


The Breakfast Club

by Brambora



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: A bit of Nihilism, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Bad Parent-Child Relationships, F/M, M/M, Sleepovers, Smoking, Underage Drinking, Unreliable Narrator, Various references, mention of eye trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-08-24 05:32:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16633907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brambora/pseuds/Brambora
Summary: Psycho Mantis finds himself in a high school dating simulator and hates the gym class. War crimes are still included.





	1. Where things don't go well

**Author's Note:**

> In the fairlytale land op comes from highschoolers are adults, so if you choose to imagine these characters underage, it's purely your decision. It should be clear by now I didn't follow usa or any other english school system in this fic and barely know anything about it. But I watched Mean Girls, that should do.

“It wasn’t even that bad.” She said, loud enough for him to hear over the wall separating them. “After I got out of the hospital everyone was suddenly so nice. My parents even stopped fighting for a while.”

She was louder than she had to be. The walls were thin and windows were open.  If he bothered to look, he could see her hand holding a cigarette absurdly far in the outdoor air, where wind could easily blow it out. Almost as if she didn’t smoke because she liked it, but because she wanted people to know she smokes.

He didn’t question it. Instead Mantis let a smoke out of his mouth, blowing it out of the window in boys’ bathroom. “Bitch, when _I_ tried to kill myself my father punched me and send me to school the next day.”

“Wow, that’s rough.” She said, as if it wasn’t the whole point. Wasn’t high school just a context of complaining whose parents are worse after all? Or maybe it was just his social circle that did that. He took another puff of his cigarette and when it turned out to be hardly sufficient, he tipped it on the smoke covered parapet.  
  
“Are you talking to yourself again?” Voice called from the back of the room, followed by a sound of zipper. It made Mantis freeze in shock for a moment. Not the zipper, the fact that he didn’t hear him coming in. Sneaky bastard couldn’t even have the decency of knocking before entering a public bathroom.

“Hi Liquid!” The girl screamed from the other room, in same time as Mantis cynically answered “Yes.” He closed the window after that. It was getting chilly outside lately and with Liquid here, he no longer he needed the annoying girl to talk his depression away. He immediately regretted closing it, as the unfiltered smell of the school bathroom hit him. He wondered, why he even bothered with smoking by the window, when the air was already poisonous

“Are you going to a gym class today?” Liquid asked, while he zipped up his pants.

“I don’t think so.” Mantis answered while giving Liquid the deadliest stare he had, Liquid understood and with a sight he washed his hands. Mantis didn’t dare to think what his friend would do without him. The terrifying answer was probably: He would not wash his hands after pissing.

“Volgin was asking about you again, he said if you don’t start attending regularly he will have to report you.” Mantis stood next to him by the sink, washing his hands like a civilised person, without the need of reminder.

“He can say whatever he wants, that guy is a creep.” He answered. “I won’t stay in his presence more than I have to.

“Whatever.” Liquid said. “ Just be careful not to hit your absence limit.”

“Don’t worry, I can manage.” Mantis waved his concerns off and left Liquid behind, as he had better things to do than supervising his poor hygiene habits.

Later in a locker room, Liquid was surprised to see Mantis again.

“What are you doing here? Changed your mind?”  
  
“I checked my absence.” Mantis sighted. “I hit my limit.” Liquid patted his shoulder in an attempt of comforting gesture. Alas, if there was something that didn't work to comfort Mantis, it was a physical touch. He pulled away from Liquid’s hand and was about to leave the locker room, so he can change in the privacy of a bathroom, when the door almost hit his face, followed by their teacher’s disgusting chest in a awkwardly tight tank top entering the room.

“Wow.” Mantis knew he won't have a chance to change in privacy anytime soon. “Look who decided to join us this time! I see my warnings got to you after all.” If Mantis thought Volgin was too close before, he was abusing his intimate space right now. “Where are you going, you aren't leaving us, are you?”

“To the bathroom.” Mantis answered, not bothering to lie, because the man would find a way to mock him for any answer. And he did.

“What for? Do you need your little _safe space_ to change in?” Volgin taunted and Mantis only rolled his eyes, hoping for him to find another interest quickly. “Actually, I do.”

Volgin seemed to be taken aback with the straight up agreement and for a second he actually stayed silent. It was the best one second of the day. “Well, there won’t be that in the real life, you know, no one will give you any privileges outside a school like we do.” “ _Sure. Because outside school people are forced to dress up in a filthy holes like this with their superiors staring at them all the time.”_ Mantis thought, but didn’t really say. He wasn’t giving the man any more chance to be annoying. He just waited for him to finish and find someone else to mock, while he sneaked out of the locker room. It didn’t take long, because Octopus wore pink underwear.

When he got back Liquid was already waiting for him.

“Hey, did you get a new gym clothes?” He asked, checking out Mantis’ outfit.

“Nah, I didn’t even bring one this year yet, I just borrowed it from Wolf.” Mantis said, trying hard not to show how uncomfortable he was feeling in the badly fitting clothes. It was a baggy tracksuit, Wolf was enough close to his size for it to fit, but it was made for women and while it was too loose at his hips, it was also very uncomfortable around his crotch.

They didn’t have much more time for gossips, because the bell rang and they went to the gym.

“Alright, pussies.” Volgin greeted his students. “We are gonna have a warm up run for start. 20 times around the gym. Then we can start some real work.” By _we_ he meant _you run I yell on you._

Mantis already regretted not skipping the class today, not passing the year, getting kicked out of his father’s filthy flat and starting a business selling stolen livers for living. Deep inside he knew, that he actually doesn’t have to make all 20 rounds and just survive until enough people have finished, but the gym was big and five rounds in he already felt like fading.

“How many left?” He asked Liquid, as he grabbed his shirt and pulled him back to slow his disrespectful speed, after he already run around him two times this round.

“I’m at ten.” Liquid answered. It wasn’t very comforting.  It made Mantis feel like he was just kicked in the face, had his house set on fire and was told his purebred sphynx is pregnant with a stray cat and the result is going to be so ugly no one will take it. So basically terrible.

Luckily for him, Liquid was just an asshole, who thought it was funny lying to his friend and finished not so long after. Which still made Mantis take one round more, before he could unsuspiciously finish too, but still better than ten.

When the torment was finally over he took few big disoriented steps and dumped into Liquid’s back, that he leaned on, while he told him explicitly, what he thought of his bad joking.

After a quick look at the clock he was terrified to find out not even 10 minutes of the class had passed. He was already sweated all over and he was sure his face was now redder than his hair. He was so focused on catching his breath that he didn’t even notice Volgin behind him until his hand landed on his ass.

“Straighten up! In an army you would have to run twice as much and go on patrol afterwards!” It wasn’t unusual for him to slap students’ asses to get them going, but he really didn’t have to _squeeze_. The shock made Mantis actually straighten up.

“Fucking pedo.” He cursed. Not that he wasn’t content of the fact, that he didn’t really fit in the pedo category anymore. He just liked to call people pedos because it scared them off. The assault shocked him enough, that he missed the opportunity to answer Volgin, by pointing on his pitiful posture and saying _“This. Army???”_ Because of all people here he was the greatest example of a moving service exemption. Maybe except Emmerich.

He _almost_ yelped when Liquid moved without a warning, which caused him lose balance and almost fall. As if he wasn’t betraying him enough today.

He found him again with Raven, none of them seemed nearly as wasted as he was from the run and both used the unexplainable bonus energy to actively debate about a local gym. As if this paint wasn’t enough. He didn’t have much to add to their conversation, so he just looked around, hoping for the class so end quickly. And just as he thought he was the most violated person in the room, he spotted Emmerich laying on the ground, with Volgin kicking him to get him up, while Emmerich made pitiful sounds typical for his family name.

It took a lot of kicks for Emmerich to get up, but at last he did and Volgin, who was very satisfied that everyone was standing, announced that next exercise is going to be graded sit ups. All this work so he can tell them to sit down.

And this is how the rest of the class went. With meaningless exercices, boredom and what would be considered a sexual assaults anywhere, but in a high school gym class.

And even at the end of the lesson Volgin wouldn’t stop being annoying.

“Mantis!” He screamed while Mantis was leaving. “Next time you attend my class, I expect you to have a proper haircut!”

Mantis ignored him and hurried out of the gym.

“Jesus.” He said, when he reached Liquid. “Did no one tell that guy hippie hunts are over, yet?”

“I imagine he wakes up at night, thinking if Gorbachev plans to put the wall down yet.”

“Nah, if the Berlin Wall still stood he would convert to the Soviet Union, just so he can go to Berlin and prove himself he can run to the west side.”

“The legends say, he did it. That’s how he got the soviet star tattoo.”

“Maybe he trained the border guards before and they couldn’t run after him, because they couldn’t move the next day.”

“Are you going to take a shower?”

“God no, every time a shower starts he suddenly appears around.”

“Fucking creep.”

“Beside, if I reek enough I can have a whole back seat in the bus for myself.”  
__

The next day there was awfully little people in the class. Not that Mantis remembered a day everyone attended since the start of the year, but it was still unsetting.

He himself didn’t bother to come sooner than with the bell announcing the start of the first lesson and it took him a moment to proceed there were whole five people inside the class, including him. The moment of proceeding he spend standing in a doorway and blinking in confusion.

“Where’s everyone?” He asked, after he made sure this was not a dream and went to his desk. It wasn’t like he cared, but if there was an epidemic around the students it would mean there’s a chance of early holiday.

Octopus was the only one awake enough to answer. “Naomi has some biology competition, so does Mei, Raven has overslept and missed his bus, the rest is either dead or depressed.”

“I wish I was one of these special snowflakes that can stay home from school because they are depressed.” Mantis frowned.

“Don’t be edgy.” Octopus rolled his eyes. “Everyone has different coping. Plus you can stay home whenever you want, you just want to avoid your father.”

“Fuck you.”

Before their conversation could turn into a morning argument, it was stopped by the teacher entering the class with a consultant following right after him.

“Greetings class.” He said, definitely not showing off in front of the consultant. It wasn’t like he frequently called his students  _assholes_ while he was trying to teach them. “The consultant has some questions for you. I trust you to be polite and answer them all truthfully.” With that he left the room, trying hard not too limp too much in front of a woman. He was disgusting.

“So.” The consultant started. “An anonymous source has pointed out that the relationships in this class aren't as good as it might seem. Of course we will be as discreet as possible with solving it.”

Everything she said was a lie.

“So, please, raise your hand if you are a friend of Hal Emmerich.”

Every single of the five people in the class raised their hand. The consultant nodded and left with a fake smile on her face.

Naturally, some of them never spoke to Hal before and those who did usually wanted to copy his homework, but he had like two friends in the class and that was enough for a high school life. However with the broken chart system the consultant used, everyone needed to be friend with at least 60% of his classmates. So two friends simply weren't enough for her report. And no one wanted to waste their time explaining the consultant that them not minding Hal’s business isn't act of bullying.

“I wish I got paid for something like that.” Mantis said.

“So do I.” Ocelot said entering the class.

Everyone started at him terrified. They didn't have him today, so unless Miller’s fake leg broke from all that performative walking and made him fall and die, something terrible had to happen. The first would simply mean Ocelot was here to substitute him. That wouldn’t be that bad. No one would expect Ocelot to finish an economy lesson.

Or he simply forgot what class he’s teaching right now.

“Mr. Ocelot.” Meryl said at last. “You might have come in a wrong class.”

“No, I didn't. I wanted to know how did the consulting go.”

“Well, she's gone now.”

“Good.” Ocelot left smiling.

“That's totally him bullying Emmerich.” Octopus said and everyone agreed.

It took another ten minutes for Miller return.

Mantis was just laying his head on the desk, preparing for long and boring 32 minutes, when the calming sound of Miller’s tired voice was disturbed by a soft knocking. The door of the class opened again and Wolf came in followed by Emmerich.

“Excuse us, sir.” Wolf said.

“We had some trouble on the way.” Emmerich added.

“What trouble?” Miller asked, while he wrote them in the attendance list **.**

“There was a dog.” Wolf said and caused Emmerich’s face to turn so pale, one would assume he was just accused of committing a crime against the state. (Which pretty much equaled to committing a crime of coming late in high school class.)

“Okay, sit down.” Luckily for him Miller heard much worse excuses. This one was at least believable.

About ten minutes later the door opened again with Liquid and Solid coming in.

“Excuse us, sir.” They didn’t bother to look even a bit guilty.  “There was a dog on a way.”

“A dog?” Miller looked at them through his sunglasses. “What excuse is that?”

“We are sorry, sir.” Solid said, while Liquid pretended to be sorry by making an expression that could only reflect a pug with face paralysis.

“Sorry isn’t enough, you better do 30 push ups both.”

Mantis himself would prefer to get any other punishment, than being forced to do push ups, but the twins threw away their bags and went to the ground with the unnatural speed.

And of course, Liquid would do them on one arm.

At this point Mantis wasn’t sure if it was competing his brother or made fun of Miller’s handicap.

Despite their teacher’s disbelieve their excuse was proven true, when Liquid sat next to Liquid in their desk and Mantis was violated by the smell typical of nothing else but a very wet dog. (And no it really wasn’t Liquid’s usual smell.)

“You fucking reek.” Mantis said without bothering to lift his head from where it laid on the desk.

“Don’t breathe then.”

Mantis, who until now didn’t even think he was able to move, gave up all his stored energy to elbow Liquid.

There was something positive on the small living space per person school offered. It was that sitting in one desk, it was very hard to miss the other person. Even though the hit had to hurt as hell and any respectful job-having-adult would be offended by getting elbowed by their friend for simply being rude and smelling bad, this mentality didn’t imply for high school. Liquid simply laughed at his own joke and after measuring the length of the desk, laid his head on the wall. The reason why he didn’t chose to lay next Mantis was simple: Two dudes laying on one desk would be gay.

The only people who weren’t sleeping in that class were Miller and Emmerich. That made two more people being active than it was usual for the first morning class.

Another disturbance from the already broken schedule happened, when Miller tried to turn on the projector and every electric device in the class including the lights shut down.

“Fuck.” Miller cursed and limped out of his chair. “Stay where you are.” The order was a waste of breath. With the lights down already tired students passed out.

Those who had enough consciousness left, could hear Miller scream from the corridor. “Ocelot, you are supposed to turn the lights off when you are using a projector!”

“And you are supposed to alert opposite classes when you are projecting, Miller! You didn't do that neither!”

The lights returned and made Mantis’ eyes feel fire again.

Miller returned angrier than before and continued explaining economy laws no one cared about, while pointing his cane on the important parts of the projected presentation.

After a class that boring it was a miracle everyone moved to a different classroom, they went through the halls like prisoners moving from one work field to another with a lack of joy and love in them, after their lives became nothing but a torturing labour, while little gremlins around them ran and screamed like in a Holy Black novel. They suffered all the pain just to get themselves to yet another classroom, where they could lay down on their desks for another 45 minutes. They felt like soldiers, who already lost their homes and just went from a battle to battle in foreign country, hoping one day they will return to their own.

Luckily for the reader Mantis’ decadent wondering was cut off by their physics and technology teacher coming in.

“Since we have enough of the education plan covered, I will let you watch a documentary today.” Mr. Anderson  said, while he struggled with turning on a projector. This time there was no problem with electricity. When it finally loaded, it turned out to be a Chernobyl documentary. Mantis was sure that the last time they were actually studding in this class they were just starting to learn about currents. But Mr. Anderson didn’t seem to mind the change in subject, as he just left the room, as soon as the document started. No one blamed him, it was very obvious he had a hangover. They knew, because he wouldn’t stop talking how excited he was about a certain concert last three weeks and the concert was yesterday. Everyone was now very happy they were doing anything but talking about the concert right now.

Mantis managed to fall asleep before the fake shots presenting the town of Pripyat ended and the documentary moved to the actual power plant. He wasn’t sure how long he slept but he was woken to a blurry image of the twins fighting in front of the class, while the burning power plant was projected right on them and their shadows made a nice silhouettes on the board. It looked so surreal Mantis wasn’t sure if he wasn’t still sleeping or at least having some hardcore Lord of the Flies hallucination. He decided to solve it by falling asleep again.

After more endless suffering in boring classes they all went to ease their hunger by the abomination of a school lunch.

“I don’t think couscous belongs in sauce. Definitely not this kind of sauce.”

“What?” The canteen was very noisy and it was very hard to hold on a conversation.

“That the food is more disgusting than usual today!”

The only people at the table who went to the canteen regularly and actually ate what it offered every time were those with respectful lack of food in their even more respectful homes. Mantis was one of them. After all those years he hardly felt the taste of food anymore, sometimes it was better to close your eyes, stop breathing and eat it.

Despite complaining, Liquid was the first to finish his disgusting meal.

“Will you eat the rest of it?” He truly looked at the food like a mother hamster about to eat her three-legged young or a teenage boy at the kebab stand. Those are two very same energies.

“Yes, I will.” Mantis pulled his plate protectively to himself and so did every other person at the table. Liquid answered with what he considered puppy eyes (another pug with facial paralysis) and when that didn’t work, he called them all “Assholes” and left to annoy food out of the B&B Corps, who sat at the closest table.

“He is going to give those girls an eating disorder at this rate.” Wolf said, as Liquid ate out of the girl’s plates, while they stared at him giggling like, as if he was some kind of a boy band idol.

“They already have it.” Mantis answered in his best _I’m-dead-inside-_ voice.

There has been a silence for a while, before Octopus spoke.

“So what is everyone doing after school?”

That didn’t help the silence. That question never helped the silence.

“I’m going to ask Ocelot if the rumours that he helps people get on a psychology university were true. If I don’t come to school tomorrow I’m dead.”

Liquid took a great time to return. Great enough to hear only half of the last two sentences and assume the meaning as he wanted.

“Are you shooting up the school? Can I join?” He was saying it far too excited.

“Did you just assume I can afford a gun? In this economy?” Again, some jokes were purely for the high schoolers company.

“No one assumed you know economy, Mantis.” Octopus laughed.

“I was just announcing” Mantis gave Octopus a death stare. “that I might be killed by Revolver Ocelot by tomorrow and everyone is obligated to pay their respects right now.”

“Wow, rip.”

That was all the respect he got.

Later Mantis was standing in front of Ocelot’s office, hoping he haven’t left the school yet and feeling as if he was standing under gallows and the executioner would come any moment. It took many moments for Ocelot to finally appear.

He didn’t seem to mind Mantis, as he just walked by him to his door.

“Mister.” He said after realizing he was being ignored and was about to have the door of Ocelot’s office shut in his face.

“Yes?” Ocelot looked rather annoyed. Of course he did. How did students dare to want something from him.

“I was told you could help me with preparing for entrance exam.”

“What subject?”

“Psychology?”

As much as he was confident about his decision, in presence of Ocelot saying that aloud felt only awkward.

“Come in.” Ocelot let him inside his office, before shutting the door. He then locked it like some kind of creep and Mantis was sure he was about to get murdered.

“Now, if you want to study psychology over some ‘ _I want to learn to manipulate people_ ’ bullshit, you can just leave.”

Mantis had a hard time proceeding he had just been locked in and told to leave few seconds after. Thinking of what Ocelot asked about came as a second priority.

“No, sir. I just want people to pay me for being told they are dumb and having recommended yoga.” That was a lie, but close enough to the truth.

“Good. I don’t have time for explaining more idiots Silence of the Lambs isn’t good therapist representation.”

“That sounds like you had a lot of students, who wanted to study psychology to manipulate people.” Mantis tried to be nice, but he wasn’t very good at it.

“I did.”

“I think I might reconsider, if people like that actually go there.” Or more precisely  _if it would mean spending more time locked in Ocelot’s office._

“You should.” Ocelot said. “I was there for few semesters and trust me, you don’t want to work with those people. Some nights I still wake up terrified, because I dream about people asking me about my mother and thinking they are manipulating me.”

Mantis was sure Ocelot just described Decoy Octopus. He needs to ask him what univercity he’s going to soon. Sooner than he could choose the same one by accident.

“That sounds very painful, sir.”


	2. Where cliffhangers happen

There are many terrible things in the universe. For example pollution, genocides or reproduction. But little of them compared to the pain that poorly trained pupil feels in a gym class. And there were little worse things than just a pure gym class. A gym class that everyone except him enjoyed.

And except Emmerich, but who cared about him.

First Volgin forced him to guide stretching for his classmates, which was a very painful and very shameful and gave Liquid great time watching him suffering.

“I think running around is a nice stretching. Go run around.”

“No! You sure know many stretching exercises, that you want to teach others.” Volgin was wearing awkwardly tight on his chest. Very awkward and very tight. It was overly disgusting.

And it became even more disgusting when he dared to come as close as to pin himself to Mantis’ back. He could feel his nasty breath on the side of his head and it offended him more than he should be legal to be offended.

“This isn’t now how triceps stretch works, you know?”

Mantis didn’t even know the exercise had a name.

Those horrifyingly huge hands grabbed his wrists behind his backs in skin-tearing hold, and moved them with force that made it feel like they were about to rip them from his arms.

And fixed his sad holding.

It definitely didn’t feel like fixing though, because his arms and upper back were now hurting.

“That hurts.”

“That means you do it correctly.”

Mantis wanted to scream, but his pride didn’t allow him too. Not that it would help him anyway.

There were more exercises and more embarrassing corrections. Every single of these made him wish he has burnt to death more and more. 

And the suffering were far from ending.

“Now, someone get a ball, we are going to play dodgeball.”

Someone fucking degenerate whistled in happiness.

Of course his classmates were happy, they were after all only high school attending subhumans, they wanted nothing more, but to establish their dominance by throwing a ball harder than everyone else.

“Twins you are going to lead teams, pick your members by turns.”

Mantis sat down on the floor because knew even Liquid wouldn’t pick him until everyone physically superior to him is claimed.

Octopus, who had a very similar problem and was much less bothered about it, sat next to him.

“So have you seen what Wolf has done to her hair?”

“No?”

“She cut her bangs, but like- only half of it.”

“That sounds terrible. Did she decide half way in she doesn’t want it?”

“I don’t know, but Meryl had been running around her all day, calling her cute, as if that abomination she did deserved support!!”

Mantis didn’t know much of girls, other than they were people too, it wasn’t gay if they kissed each other and something like society encouraged their rivalry.

“Maybe she does that because she wants her to look bad?”

“Hm.. I don’t think Meryl is clever enough for that.” Octopus said. “More like she has a zero fashion sense.” 

Before they could finish they debate, everyone but them and Emmerich was already with their teams and Liquid was waving at Mantis.

Mantis got up from the ground and gracefully walked by his offered highfive. The disappointment in Liquid’s face was priceless.

“Can I go to Liquid?” Octopus asked Solid, as he was about to announce who he wanted in his team.

Solid looked at Emmerich with pity and despair in his eyes.

“Okay.” He said with the apparent defeat in his voice. “Come here Hal.”

If Mantis would have any appreciation for nice gesture in him, he would have to respect Solid for that one. But he didn’t. Instead he thought he was dumb for selling his team like that.

The game itself was terrible, but at least it wasn’t baseball. As soon as the game started he went to the back of his team’s side of the gym and stood there as still as Lot's wife, looking at scenario that might have not been as destructive as God’s wrath, but was pretty close to it. Enthusiastic teenagers were very destructive, when they had the chance.

He felt very offended when a ball landed before him and disturbed him from his silent staring nowhere. Did they really expect him to pick it up and  _ throw it _ ?

He looked around if someone else was coming to pick it up, people staring at him, but no one seemed to be taking their life chance to pick a ball.

They indeed were waiting for him to throw it.

With a sight he picked it up and with a lack of passion his classmates possessed he threw it at the closest person from opposing team.

Surprisingly, he missed.

That was far from the end of his luck, because it proved that even as the ball missed, Volgin didn’t miss what happened and was about to use it to rub his fragile ego. 

“How do want to get on with life if you can’t get over a simple ball game? What will you do when you have to do a physical work?” Volgin was hitting the level of patience Mantis can spare in one day. He didn’t want to raise his voice nor start to stupidly argue. He really didn’t. But at that point it was beyond his self control.

“Excuse me, I have been working in construction whole summer! Isn’t that enough physical work for you? Or do you imagine me as a fucking miner?!”

“Did you? I’m pretty sure I saw you working in some supermarket.” Of course he completely misses the point of what Mantis wanted to say.

“That was last summer! And honestly this is fucking worse than construction work!”

“Repeat that after doing it years in row.”

Sure, mister Work-while-I-watch would know. Mantis had had enough. Maybe he did let his mouth run a little too much, but honestly unlike here back in construction he could have open a beer and no one would complain. He was about to say exactly that, when he felt a huge hand on his shoulder.

“Shhh..” Raven should have really reconsider his calming skills. “We won. Can we take a break, sir?” Or not. Break sounded better than continuing the argument.

“You did?” Volgin looked at the opposing team, just to find out there was noone left there. “You can, but be back in five minutes.”

Raven was like two whole centimeters taller than Volgin and despite being very unproblematic, the two centimeters Volgin had to look up made their interactions more hilarious than turkish soap operas. Mostly because Volgin looked like he was about to fight him for just standing close, while Raven gave him zero reason to fight him.

“Were you really working in construction?” Raven asked him, when they made their way to the locker room.

Mantis knew Raven didn’t mean to be rude, but he really didn’t want to talk about that, he already felt the embarrassment he caused himself during the exchange he had with Volgin.

“Yes.”

“Outside?”

“yes.”

“I don’t want to sound like I don’t believe you, because I do, but you are so pale one would assume you weren’t out the whole summer.”

“I am tan!” Mantis said before realizing, that his own standard for tan differed from the ones of other people. “Not like you, but I am!”

Looking around he truly was the most light-skinned person around.

He sighted.

And rolled up his sleeve to show his surprisly visible tan line.

“Fuck. I didn’t believe you could get even paler, but you managed to do so.”

“Wow, you are quite ripped.” Octopus joined them, probably summoned by the reveal Mantis’ naked shoulder. “For someone who has like 40kg.”

“Excuse me!” Mantis was about to correct him that he had 70kg last time he checked, but it was still pretty awkward to admit, so he didn’t say it.

“Please stop touching my baby muscle.”

“Baby muscle? What does that even mean?” Octopus laughed.

“Muscle formed out of baby fat.”

“That’s a phrase way too good to come from you, where is it from?”

“That’s what Wolf calls Liquid.” Mantis smirked in memory of Liquid absurdly hating the phrase.

They were disturbed by a loud crack from the locker room.

“What was that?”

“Shit. I have no idea.”

“Liquid was making fun of Solid for losing the game and got punched.” Johnny emerged out of the locker room to enlighten the situation to them.

Another loud crack sounded and more boys run out of the room.

“Fuck, I have my cigarettes in there.” Mantis cursed.

“I have some on me if you want.” Octopus said and offered Mantis a half empty box. (Which still was enough to share, if you were not complete asshole, that came from a bourgeois family.)

“Thanks.” Mantis said, as he took one out of it.

They took the closest way out of the building, which happened to be the same one everyone else took on their way to smoke. Because smoking during break between gym classes was very clever.

“I don't know how I will manage the trip, I can't stay four hours without pissing.”

“Just drink less-"

“Just piss in a bottle-"

“Shit, I can't. Last time I managed that without pissing myself was when I was 11! It got harder since then!”

“I feel you, dude. That's why I use Arizona bottles.”

“You are a genius!”

None of them seemed to be as bothered by the prospect of pissing in bus full of people as they should.

No need to say that before they all finished smoking, fighting and discussing the best piss bottles it took more than five minutes Volgin gave them.

“I said five minutes! Not  _ twenty five _ !”

Mantis slowly backed from the gym, before Volgin would let them all do push ups until he calmed down. Positive thing was that in his rage, he hardly had the chance to count them all to find out if someone is missing. He left just on time for Volgin to say exactly that.

“You all better get down and start doing push ups until I decide it’s enough!”

Because how better make up for a wasted time, than wasting more of it. That guy was true soviet.

He saw Johnny just leaving the toilets and going to the gym.

Mantis didn’t warn him.

Instead he went to the locker room, where he found Liquid laying in pound of blood on the floor. Which didn’t bother him as much as the bench next to him being turned over. He sat on it anyway, while he sipped water from his bottle.

Liquid still didn’t move, so from pure boredom he decided it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to check on him and laid his legs on his back.

Liquid groaned and proved to be pretty much alive.

He shook off Mantis’ legs as he sat up.

“Let me drink.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“You can drink from the sink.”

“It’s too far. Please I’m injured! Would you let me die like this?”

Mantis sighted and handled him his bottle. Liquid drank from it longer than it was appropriate and returned it to him almost empty.

“Great now you can get up and refill it.” He said only party sarcastically.

Instead of proper answer Liquid pointed with his bloody finger on the spectacular leftover of Mantis’ nose.

“Boop.”

“Was that necessary?”

“That’s was a grateful boop.”

Blood loss Liquid appeared to be worse than normal Liquid.

“Please lay back down and die.”

“You are rude.” Liquid said as he got up, he picked up Mantis’ bottle and went to the sink (that really wasn’t that far away) and after cleaning the blood from under his nose, refilled it.

“Haven’t the break ended yet?” He asked at last.

“Yes. Volgin have been making everyone do push ups for coming late, but  _ maybe  _ he calmed down since.”

He checked over the corridor and truly, the time wasting punishment was over now and everyone was gathered around the climbing rope.

They came in just when Frank was explaining Volgin how katana moves differed from sword fighting and Solid with Raven were trying to get Emmerich as far on the rope as they could, while their dear teacher was distracted.

They were pretty much failing, none of them would reach the top from the ground and Emmerich couldn’t climb a bit himself. It was pretty hilarious to watch. Especially when Emmerich tried to fix his glasses by letting one hand off the rope and not only he did almost fell down himself, but his glasses slipped from him and if Solid wasn’t quick enough to grab them, they would land on the hard gym floor and most likely break.

They did managed to get him close enough to the top tho. Sad he will never be capable of finishing it.

“Why are they helping him?”

“Volgin said until everyone gets to the top we can’t leave.”

“Fuck.”

No need to say, they stayed there for a long long time, until Emmerich with help of his classmates, managed to get on the top of the rope and even after that there were still people left to climb it. Including Mantis.

But no one, not even Mantis, took too long after that.

After the torment of a gym class was finally over, Mantis cursed himself for agreeing to see Ocelot after the class, when he knew how it was going to leave him.

He took his time to take a shower and change, which made him even more tired. Mantis was half asleep, when he walked to Ocelot’s office and almost missed that fact, that three girls and Decoy Octopus were peeking on a classroom door and that it wasn’t exactly normal thing to observe. Or at least it was enough out of norm to catch his interest.

“What are you doing?” He asked, before realizing he wasn’t speaking just to his equals, but his biology teacher too. “Dr. Clark.” He added.

“Shhh..” Dr. Clark did seem very offended that he dared to disturb her. “I let Raven look after my class, he’s explaining them something about birds and it’s adorable.”

Octopus was nice enough to let Mantis peek in, as four people at one door was already very uncomfortable and Mantis didn’t know why would be watching Raven talking about birds (again) worth to bother-

“No, rooks  _ are  _ big, but ravens are bigger! Like they can be even  _ this  _ big!” 

Raven showed the size he meant with his arms and Mantis was pretty sure he had overdone it, but he wasn’t a bird expert. However, it was enough to fool the pupils, as every single one of them stared at him with their tiny little mouth opened.

“That big?”   
“Yea, that big.”

Mantis moved to let Octopus continue watching the show. It was indeed kind of cute.

“Can’t you let him teach all the babies’ biology?” Naomi asked Clark, just when Mantis decided it was not for him and was about to leaving them.

“I wish.” Clark said. “Sadly ornithology is only one week subject for them.”

It suddenly occurred to Mantis, that Clark should probably be in the classroom teaching right now, but who was he to blame her. He wouldn’t want to spend time around reeky kids neither.

The afternoons in Ocelot’s office actually quite improved after his first visit, when Ocelot finally realized Mantis might have a legitimate interest in the subject and shares his hate for pretentiousness of humanity. It showed on the fact, that he no longer pretended not to hear him, when he knocked on his door.

“Just come in.” Ocelot invited him in, as soon as he touched the door. “And lock the door.”

Mantis still didn’t understand why Ocelot was so strict about his door being locked, it wasn’t like someone would want to come in and see him. Still he obeyed.

Mantis was glad to discover the more comfortable chair in the office was free at the moment and fell on it, feeling no shame about more lying than sitting in it.

“Before we start.” Only Ocelot could start a sentence and make it known, it’s going to be annoying, just by first few words. “I want to ask you. Why do you really want to study psychology?”

Mantis wasn’t prepared for this kind of conversation, not after a damned gym class, but he also knew, he didn’t have much opportunity to consult his life choices with someone. His friends were all idiots with their own problems and the only thing his father cared about was getting him out of his home.

“I want to be an army therapist.” He confessed. That seemed to quite disturb Ocelot. For a second his expression equated to the one of Clark, when Liquid jokingly told her he wants to graduate from biology.

“That’s surprising.” He said at last. “But far from the worst reason I’ve ever heard. It’s actually pretty good choice. But why do you want it?”

“The money.” Mantis said immediately. It was an obvious planned lie.

Ocelot sighted. “Anyone but you I would believe.” That was also very obvious and planned lie. “Honestly, why?”

“I-” Why did he want to do it. He knew his reasons, but they felt so insecure, he was afraid to think of them, let alone to said it aloud. But again, who will he ever have a chance to tell and possibly ask about their opinion of it. “Most of my friends want to join a military. I want to stay close by.”

“You will not stay close by, boy. You will sit down, while they fight and if you are lucky they will return home and let you treat their PTSD.”

“Maybe I want that.”

After all that ugly shit that happened to him during that day, he really didn’t expect to come home to his father ruining it even more, nor that he was about to stand outside his best friend’s house in middle of the night hoping he didn’t go to sleep yet, because of this very much event.

Honour thy father and thy mother He said.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The part about construction work being worse than gym class is a quote I stole from my classmate. I did never personally work in it, but the rage in him, when he said that sounded like he believed it.


	3. The chapter with a dead mouse

At the edge of the very same day, Mantis stood in the chilly night, before the door of his friend’s house hoping for him to answer.

When his waiting seemed to be a bit too long, he pushed the bell again. This time he let it ring, until he could hear a sign that someone inside is still alive. It would be awkward if he disturbed a moment of homicide or how they liked to call it: an unfortunate accident.

Inside the house the brothers were yelling at each other, accusing one another of having a visit. Naturally, no one of them checked the door. The only thing that his effort changed was that some poor neighborhood dog mistook their voices for barking and answered. Now all the dogs around were barking.

He considered screaming for Liquid to come, but that would probably take longer than for any other of the brothers to give up and go open the door.

He was right. When the door opened, it was Solid behind them. Before he bothered to even greet him, he turned his back on him and screamed “It was yours, asshole!” into the house. After that he _finally_ invited Mantis in, while giving him completely unnecessary pity look. “He will be here soon.. probably.”

The moment he entered the smell of the house hit him. He knew the house smelled bad, he went there quite often, but _knowing_ wasn’t enough to prepare him. It was just that- It wasn’t as bad as one would expect from household run by three teenage boys, but it still wasn’t very pleasing. It smelled like years old layers of dust, stale air and rot, that was attempted to be covered by a very cheap deodorant. It was the same unpleasant smell Liquid and both of his brothers had, but much stronger. Still, he envied them having a free household. Even when it reeked. Unlike his, their father was almost never home, due to his job as a soldier.

When he _was_ home the house smelled different.

Worse.

Liquid took his time to show himself and when he did, everything felt very familiar and very awkward.

“Oh, hey. If Solid told me it was you I would come sooner.” He lied. When he looked up on him, Mantis could see something on him change. He still kept his stupid grin and cocky tone, but his smile was smaller and his tone was on the edge. “I hope you managed to land more punches than he did.”

“Oh, I did.” Mantis forced himself to smirk. It wasn’t that hard, he was proud of that one. “Broke the assholes nose even.”

And the awkward silence was about to come..

“That’s good.”

...in any moment.

In order to avoid it Mantis spoke.

“Would you mind helping me to get my face stitched? My corner broke again and I would prefer not to look like a japanese urban legend.”

“I will get the first aid kit.” Liquid said and turned to the corridor. “Come, you can clean yourself, while I search for it.”

“Do I really look so bad?" He said. He really didn’t feel like checking himself on his way here.

“Sorry, but yea.”

“Fuck.”

He hoped no one saw him then. Not because he cared for people, but because he didn’t want his ugly face to become an urban legend itself. Not again.

When he arrived to the bathroom and looked in the dirty mirror, he found out that yes, he looked pretty bad. Worse than he normally did even.

He hardly admitted it aloud, but he hated looking into a mirror and he hated his father for forcing him to do so.

He respectfully spit into the sink and found out inside of his mouth was bleeding too.

“I found it.” Liquid said, bringing an ugly plastic bag along with him. Mantis wasn’t sure keeping first aid in it was any close to sanitary, but it wasn’t his place to question it. Liquid was the one with medical training here. He had the privilege to question sanitarity of other things though, such as:

“Please at least wash your hands before you touch my open wounds.”

“I was about to do it!” Liquid said, almost as if he was a person, who knows about basic hygiene and does wash his hands after pissing. While he cleaned his hands, Mantis sat down on a bathtub.

He watched Liquid taking a curved needle out of the bag along with a thread and putting it under water. Mantis didn’t have much knowledge about suture, but what he knew was enough to confirm that Liquid was paying less attention during his medical training, than he admitted.

He was about to say something, but then decided that it doesn’t matter, because he is either going to survive alone or with the help of antibiotics.

If the bacteria doesn’t get immune to them by the time he gets his ass up to get them. Which is very possible considering the time it takes him to decide if he wants to stop dying or not.

“It’s bloody again.” Liquid said as soon as he got a look at his face. Mantis was about to get up and clean it, but Liquid was faster to push a piece of toilet paper on his face. That was also an opinion of cleaning it.

“Tilt your head.” He warned before pouring antiseptic on his wound.

“Fuck!” Mantis cursed. The whole sentence he wanted to say was _“Fuck! That hurts!”_ , but before he could finish it the antiseptic got in his mouth and prevented him from wanting to open his mouth ever again..

“Don’t be a pussy.” Liquid expressed his friendly side.

Mantis felt the acrid taste all over his mouth. He remembered one of the women his father dated that made him wash his mouth with soap, when he dared to use a vulgarity. (While insulting with vulgary, while she did so.)

He turned his head to split the taste into the bathtub.

“Fuck!” He jumped up as soon as he looked inside. His voice lower than usual.

“What?”

“What the fuck is that?” He pointed into the bathtub.

“Dead mouse.” Liquid said and his description didn’t quite suit the half rotten abomination that laid under them. Suddenly Mantis understood the terrible smell of the bathroom.

“Why the fuck is it in there?” Mantis found himself a person that could appreciate a decadent beauty. However what was lying in the bathtub was just gross.

“You see” Liquid said and the filler in his speech as much as the half embarrassed look on his face already proved that it was his fault. “When it got caught it was a very small and cute and not entirely dead, we couldn’t agree who will take it out and finish it.”

“It looks like it has been dead for weeks!”

“A month and something actually.”

“And why the fuck is it still here?!”

“Before we could agree whose duty it to clean it, no one wanted to touch it anymore.”

“So you are just going to let it lay there?”

“Yea, we never actually used the bathtub anyway. At some point it will get small enough to be splashed in the sewer or father comes home.”

It wasn’t like Mantis would be willing to touch that at its state, but waiting for their father to come home from war to clean a filled mouse trap was too low even for the Snakes.

Spiting the same direction as the abomination felt too close to physical touch, so he cleaned his mouth in the sink instead.

“Please patch me up, before I see another nightmare stuff in here and decide it’s safer to sleep on the roof of Ljubljana.” Or any other shopping centre, but he favoured that one. It had cheap butter and sometimes sold a very good expired jam for a laughable price.

“There are more weird and disgusting things around Ljubljana, than it will ever be here.” Liquid said as he stitched him up. Most likely happy to have a space for monologue, while Mantis couldn’t speak. “And _I_ live here.”

“Even if Simon the Mouse came back from the dead and walked around the house it would be less weird here, than it’s in there.”

Mantis wanted to answer that he probably belongs between the disgusting weird things that were spotted around Ljubljana too. But he also wanted to have his mouth stitched so he didn’t, hoping that Liquid finishes before changing the theme.

He didn’t. Instead he took his time, while torturing Mantis with talking about gym and fighting.

“Do you want a drink?” He asked him, when he finished.

Mantis checked himself in the mirror, only to confirm he couldn’t get uglier anyway.

“Sure, thanks.” He said.

He wasn’t very surprised when Liquid presented him with a beer in the kitchen. They hardly drank something else in their home. At least something the brothers would agree on. Mantis on the other hand was a person, who believed that one shot of vodka was for a good health and prefered a stronger liquor.

They drank in silence. Still, Mantis was glad to have Liquid by his side in the moment. Drinking his thought away alone, was for lonely old men. And he didn’t want to feel like one of those yet.

“I think it’s time to sleep now.” Liquid said at last and he was right. At least by the decent human standard. It was a workweek after all. “You can sleep in father’s room. George was sleeping there, but he isn’t home, so if he tries to invade the room, just tell him to fuck off.” He got up. “Good night.”

“Good night.” Mantis said.

He knew where their father’s room was. It wasn’t his first sleepover. He kind of missed the days, when Liquid’s parents were together and he could sleep in the brothers’ room beside Liquid. But he never dared to share the thought with Liquid. Instead he spend the night alone, in a bed that reeked of sweaty old man.

Hours later Mantis just couldn't fall asleep. His mind was loud and the sheets that smelled like fragile masculinity didn't help him fall asleep neither.  Suffering the presence of his own thoughts and rolling from one side of the bed to other seemed endless.

When the first light of the day met his eyes through the window, he considered the battle to fall asleep lost. He sat up on the bed, enjoying it's warmness just a moment more. For how much the bed seemed uncomfortable after hours of laying in it, standing up felt really hard. He did it anyway.

To his surprise when he arrived to the kitchen, it was already occupied.

“Good morning.” He said in “ _I'm not here to steal, just to merely borrow your gross well water.”_ tone, confidently enough so the oversized kid knows he is welcomed.

“Hey.” Solidus greeted him. He stood bend over the sink, biting in something, that Mantis later identified as an orange. If only there was an easier way to eat it.

“Did you come home just now?” Mantis said as he poured himself a glass of water.

“No, I was home all night.” Solidus said. Which raised even more questions. Staying up until morning at his age wouldn’t be that surprising, as him waking up so soon.

“Liquid said you weren’t home.”

“I was sleeping in mother’s room. But don’t tell my brothers, I’m glad to have place to be alone in, they are still too scared to go inside. As if our mother would suddenly appear in here and punish them the moment they stepped in.”

“Hm,” This could be used as a nice blackmail material, if only Solidus had anything that Mantis wanted. Which he didn’t. “Why are you awake then?”

“Morning is the best time for jogging.”

Mantis may have not been sleeping, but it was still too early for him to hear these words in this order with this particular meaning.

“It’s 5 am.”

“Yes. I still need time to take a shower, before I go to school.”

Liquid said his little brother’s determination to live a healthy life was crazy, but Mantis never thought it could be that bad.

After Solidus finished his orange, he offered Mantis something to eat. “If you are hungry just take something, everything that’s green or isn’t a total junk is mine. I wouldn’t make you eat whatever is it Liquid considers food.” He said, right before he left Mantis alone in the kitchen, in no way paralleling his brother, who did that just night before.

Mantis looked around the kitchen for food that wouldn’t get him kicked out if he ate it. It proved that Solidus’ comment about Liquid’s food of choice was on the point. After finding something that was more mold than whatever it was originally, he decided that Solidus wouldn’t miss another orange. Unlike him, he was planning to eat it like a normal person.

He turned on tv, hoping to wake himself up, but then discovered that there was nothing to watch. He tv switched channels between soap operas and reprises of old talk shows, until he discovered a channel that was currently streaming The Pianist.

His plans were immediately changed to _“If a film about civilian in a World War doesn’t make me fall asleep nothing ever will.”_

He was quite mistaken.

The Pianist is actually a great film.

  



	4. Where it's proved that buying drinks for teenagers has consequences

Mantis was very surprised to discover how thrilling the film really was.

And even more surprised when he found himself with edge of the table engraved in his chest, after he passed out on it. He didn’t get the chance to reach the deep sleep stage, but it was an improvement from what he got whole night. Thought the bed would be more comfortable.

Despite the pain he felt in his back and where the table cut in him. The first thing he could think of after waking up was that he missed the end of the movie. It bothered him enough not to notice the noises coming from the Snake’s bedroom.

At least until nearly hysterical Liquid ran in the kitchen, that was impossible not to notice.

“We need to go, Solid fucked up.”

“No, I didn’t!”

“What time is it?” Mantis asked, somehow realizing that the answer had to be “ _ Too late.” _

“Too late.” Liquid answered. “Hey, did you sleep on the table?”

That moment Mantis realized he has been sitting in the same place, as he was when Liquid left him last night.

“No.”

“Okay, let’s go, we are already late, but some miracle may happen on the way. Like a randomly spawned time loop or something of that kind.”

“Why do you even care?” Mantis asked. Liquid wasn’t usually bothered with coming late in class.

“It’s math.” Liquid said, as he pulled him out of the house in rush.

“And?”

“And?” Liquid stopped for a moment to give him a faked shocked look. _ So he wasn’t in that much rush after all. _ “The Sorrow is going to kill us. He’s a literal vampire!”

“Last time you told me he was an undead.” Mantis rolled his eyes.

“Wait for me, asshole!” Solid yelled from the house.

“Why would I?” Liquid yelled back, while he was desperately searching through his pockets.

“I have the keys, idiot.” Mantis couldn’t help, but to betray the trust of his friend and laugh. Because of course Liquid would first go to the car and  _ then  _ search for the keys.

When they got to school it was already locked.

“Fuck.” Liquid said, as he tried to open the door for the fifth time. Four obviously wasn’t enough to prove it’s locked.

After taking their time to go to and knock on a completely different door, they learned that they are completely fucked, because the janitor isn’t around to open the door for them.

“Well, he threatened to report us the next time we bother him with coming late, anyway.” Liquid tried to enlighten the situation. 

“Just call one of your stupid friends to open it for us.” Solid proposed rudely.

“Why don’t  _ you  _ call one of  _ your  _ stupid friends?”

“I.. might have forgot my phone home.” 

“So did I..”

“They were charging in the restroom right? That explains the lack of alarm.”

The brothers looked on Mantis.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t have a phone.”

“Why?” Solid asked, ignoring Liquid’s attempt to silently warn him not to do that.

“My father smashed the only one I had and I won’t give him the pleasure of doing it again, nor to be hiding it from him as some weakass idiot.” Not to mention that without a phone, his father can’t annoy him anywhere, that isn’t their home.

“Great, so what now?”

“Let’s just knock on the window and hope The Sorrow isn’t looking at the moment.”

They were lucky enough to have their first morning class downstairs. Alas, it still was too high to reach the window comfortably. Even to knock.

“I’m gonna get some stone.”

“Don’t, he would hear us.”

“Alright, do you have better plan then?”

“Just lift me up and I’ll knock.” As much as Mantis didn’t enjoy the idea of being manhandled, he knew the twins would not come with anything better.

Liquid was very quick to follow his request and Mantis did take care to take an annoyed sigh, while he was at it, to prove he in fact, wasn’t enjoying it.

The sudden reveal of things higher than him made him feel more superior, that he would admit.

After catching himself on the parapett, precisely in the place than wasn’t covered in bird poop, cigarette smoke and many more thing students left there, he finally took a look in the window and discovered, that The Sorrow wasn’t inside.

He knocked on the window. “Hey” he shouted.

“Shh! The Sorrow-” He was pretty sure Liquid wasn’t trembling before, but it could also be from the weight on his arms becoming too much.

“He isn’t there, idiot.”

He looked at Liquid to say his mocking line and when he looked back up, he got very disoriented by the window being suddenly open. Behind it stood a very amused Wolf.

“You guys would make a terrible guerrillas, you know. I’ve heard  _ everything. _ ”

Mantis didn’t have to ask for her to help him inside. She just pulled him in without his consent. How rude of her.

“Thanks. Now we can watch Snakes fight for who will climb up on a body of the other.”

“Close the window!” Frank shouted, watching it all from his place in the back of the class. It was indeed a tempting request.

“Assholes.” Liquid said, as he crawled up the window. Despite all the jokes, Mantis helped Wolf pull Liquid in. It was harder than it seemed, when she pulled him in. But he wasn’t paying much attention to her effort then.

“You’re a fat fuck, Liquid.” She complained, when he was lying on the ground beneath the window. Unlike Mantis, he didn’t manage a proper landing.

From outside they could hear Solid’s attempts to crawl up himself. They weren’t very good, considering all the ugly words he let out during.

Liquid leaned out of the window to help him. His ass in the right angle to be kicked out of the window again. Also the only angle he actually had an ass in. He had one of the rare good brother moments.

“Fuck! You are too fat. You’re just pulling me down. That doesn’t work.”

Mantis sat back from where he had a good view on them.

Liquid stepped back from the window.

“Someone with long arms minding to help me?” He asked. He had to be very desperate, if he admitted he needs help. Or maybe not. He did very weird things when he was in the  _ good brother  _ mode.

Like a white knight (judging by the color of the hoodie he wore at the moment) Raven came to his rescue. It was a bit of a miracle they both managed to lean out of the one poor window at the same time.

“Jump.”

Nothing but a very loud curse happened.

“Try again.”

After a bit of struggle, they managed to pull Solid up the window. Raven was nice enough to gently lay him on the floor, so he doesn’t end up on his face like Liquid.

In the meantime Mantis went to his and Liquid’s shared desk and was about to pull books out of his bag, when he realized something was off.

“Where’s The Sorrow?”

Octopus shrugged.

“He hasn’t come yet.”

Mantis checked the clock. The old man was usually on time. Maybe he finally died.

It was soon to be ten minutes over the stated limit of time the teacher is allowed to miss, before students are obligated to report them. Despite the distraction their unusual arrivement brought, he now noticed some people were starting to get quite nervous. He personally found that situation a blessing.

“So.” Emmerich said. “Will someone go and check on The Sorrow? At least if he’s still alive, because we can’t be sure about that.”

“I am!” The classroom door smashed open and The Sorrow ran in the class, literally ran in and with loud unsteady breath started writing on a blackboard, while giving very simplified instructions.

“Solve it. Work together. I’m going to check and grade it next class.” With that he ran away again. His speed was very impressive and not only the running one, though he deserved some credit for it at his age, the equation he wrote was taking the whole blackboard, included probably everything they ever learned in math and it took him only few seconds to write it down. Incredible. 

Those who cared enough to look at it stared with a terrified expression.

“Umm.. Hal, you don’t mind solving this little equation for us, right?” Liquid, whom was a grade from failing the math class said.

“It’s inequality.” There was a clear death in Emmerich’s voice. He probably didn’t even understand Liquid’s request and the correction was just his mind running on autopilot to cope.

It really was an inequality.

Mantis stared at the blackboard as if the answer could suddenly appear there, while everyone else, who was really interested in the problem gathered around Emmerich’s desk. Surprisingly even Liquid did.

Wolf on the other hand moved from their shared desk to make place for the ones, who cared about solving it and sat next to Mantis.

“So I get it you had a little sleepover last night, again?” She looked at him with pity and an attempt of shown understanding.

“Yes, but without the sleep. Just over.”

“You look like it.”

“It wasn’t that bad. I got like a hour of sleep while watching The Pianist.”

“That’s a good film.” Octopus turned around in the chair Wolf just left. “You should watch it to the end!” It was incredible how he managed to listen to other people’s conversations, no matter what he was doing at the moment.

“It was a good film, but I would prefer the sleep.” He answered.

Wolf patted her thighs. “Go on then.”

It couldn’t be weirder than when she choked him back in the 8th grade and he couldn’t think of anything else, than that it was a first time in this life he had touched boobs. He considered the offer to be more comfortable that the desk or the floor, so he accepted it.

...

“I wanted to wear some pretty panties for the date, but then I realized I don’t have any!”

“I have no idea where I bought them, but I don’t mind borrowing them.”

“Ew- I guess it doesn’t matter if they are washed, right?”

“I guess. You can wear a pad over them if it bothers you, but that takes the effect away.”

Mantis’ neck hurt and waking up to hearing words such as panties and pads wasn’t very comfortable neither.

“Is the class over yet?” He asked, while rubbing his eyes.

“Almost.”

He looked on the blackboard.

“And someone found the answer, yet?”

Wolf nodded toward teacher’s desk, where Octopus sat by computer, while Hal squirmed nervously behind him.

“They are looking for it.”

“I refuse to believe he would manage to think of this abomination himself.” Octopus cursed.

“Maybe Ocelot helped him.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Of course, Ocelot wasn’t good at math either. They found it online. Which didn’t negate Ocelot’s involvement.

It wasn’t until lunch that Mantis finally got over his unfortunate night. It was just on time for everyone making requests of him.

“So, me and Mantis are having a film night tonight watching The Pianist, someone else wants to join?”

Mantis stared at Octopus startled.

“No, we are not.”

“Shame. You should finish it.”

“There’s a party at some kid’s house tonight.”

“It’s Wednesday. Who makes parties on Wednesdays?”

“People whose parents are out during a weekdays.”

Mantis didn’t want to come, but he didn’t want to go home and face his father neither. And staying at Liquid’s house without him in was out of question. So his plans for the night were decided then and so were everyone else’s.

At the end the party didn’t turn out as bad as he expected it too. He got few bonus hours of sleeping back at Liquid’s house. In his bed. That he so graciously claimed by passing out on it as soon as he sat down. Liquid didn’t mind. When Mantis woke up it was already evening and his friend was already a bit too happy to be sober.

“Did you manage to find out where the party is?” Mantis asked, as he was handled a bottle of vodka by Liquid.

“Dubrovnik Club.”

“You said it was at someone’s house before.” Mantis was never in the said club himself, he only heard the stories of drugs, fights, sex and puking, that were often covering at least three of the named things.

“I was slightly misinformed, but we’re going anyway. Get up, we are gonna get kebab first.”

Mantis decided to taste the vodka. It surprisingly tasted after vodka.

“Okay, but I don’t have much money left.”

“Whatever, I’ll get it for you.”

No need to say, that when they arrived to the kebab stand, Mantis’ ego didn’t allow him to have his food paid for. Knowing Liquid, he would use the opportunity to order for him too. The food itself was good. The salt and bold calories gave him the joy of a moment he needed to forget all his problems. Especially the ones involving his father, which was most of them.

When they got to the club, the vodka was already gone. They finished it in front of the club entrance and the eyes of security, that rudely took away all drinks from visitors naive enough, not to hide them.

As soon as they were inside Liquid forced him on the dance floor. He did so just to disappear moments after. But before Mantis could use the opportunity to move into the introvert corner and creepily observe other people while drinking, he was pulled back to the crowd by soft hands of a tolerably younger girl.

He guessed there was nothing better to do, than joining her in the crowd and blamed the vodka for it.

It was actually nice to have someone to dance closely with for once. Liquid didn’t do that. Not with him. For a moment he just focused on the rhythm of mainstream songs. The girl tried to tell him something and for once she wasn’t louder than her surroundings.

“What?”

She pulled him closer.

“I like this song!”

He looked down on her.

“Want up?”

He didn’t really hear her answer, but she looked happy that he asked. He lowered just to wrap his hands around her and lifted her up. She was quite light. He didn’t even need to put her on his shoulders to hold her. She smelled nice too. She probably overdone her perfume before going out and now, it was a blessing to smell something that was not sweat nor cigarettes. She was so focused on screaming the lyrics of the song, that she didn’t notice her dress pulling dangerously up. He catched it, amused. Her enthusiasm to the badly pronounced song was kind of cute. He never before thought that a song as deep as Moskau (Rammstein, not the other one) could be mispronounced. Not that she was the only one in the crowd doing so. But he wasn’t here to boast about his partial language skill.

The sweaty bodies around him were getting nearer and nearer, while they were quite close to begin with. Each song seemed endless, while too short, when it ended. He was barely feeling his arms anymore.

He let her down on the floor. It did not help his arms.

She leaned towards him, smiling. “Let’s get a cig!”

She led him to an unobtrusive door, that to his surprise hid an isolated yard behind it. It was framed by tall buildings, that gave it a fake impression of privacy. It was filled with people, but not as much as the inside of the club was. His lowcore hopes for fresh air were wasted, as the space smelled of cigarettes and weed.

She took out her cigarette and looked up on him.

“I don’t have any on me.” He shrugged and she offered him one in response.

“I owe you, anyway.” She said and she was probably right. He did share with her before.

“So you are staying with Snakes again?”

The cigarette felt damn nice.

“I heard legends of how their house looks like.”

“They are mostly true.”

“Even the one with zombie rats?”

“Almost. There’s a dead shrew in the bathtub and God helps them if it starts moving.”

“Ew.”

“His name is Simon.”

“Wolf caught a shrew in our room once. She threw it out of the window and claimed it’s too light on weight to be killed by the fall. I wouldn't be surprised if she believed it. She believes stuff she saw in Tarantino films. Hey, what’s your favourite Tarantino film?”

“To be honest?”

“You know only Pulp Fiction, don’t you?”

“Pretty much. And Kill Bill, but I wasn’t exactly paying attention when we watched that.”

“What about Kubrick?” 

“Do you really want to have your image of me ruined?”

“That wouldn’t happen.”

She leaned up and before he could realise what she was doing, her lips were on his own. He really didn’t want to cause a scene. That and the fact that it could actually make his father see any worth in him made him stay still and take it. She was pretty after all, wasn’t she any boy’s goal? He moved his lips experimentally and all he achieved was to make it all feel a little less awkward.

When he looked up, he could see Liquid grinning and pulling thumb on him with one hand, while the other was busy holding hair of some poor individual, who was just getting rid of alcohol intoxication and possible even lunch and dinner on the ground.

Mantis tried to ask for help with his eyes, but his message wasn’t delivered the way he meant it to be.

She leaned back, smiling, but before any of them could say something, Wolf ran into the yard.

“Hey, Snake!”

“No?” Liquid answered, since he was pretty much the only snake with S around.

“Wait, Liquid? If you are here, who is that fighting on the street?”

“Dave was screaming at the younger one at the bar for getting some baby drunk? They are fighting already?!” Frank explained. Kind of. “I need to watch!”

“Bitch, how could they leave me out of it.” Liquid cursed before joining Frank in running out of the yard.

Wolf looked at the two Mantises, that just now realized were still too conspicuously close to each other and pulled thumbs up on them too.

“Want a drink?” Mantis asked her, because what else should he do. If he was to be honest, he could not afford the drink.

“Sure.”

_ Fuck _ .

If he was two money from broke before, he definitely was broke now. He decided to drown that in his own liqueur and now even more touchy dance parket.

When Liquid came to wave at him that they are going back home the girl followed.

“Mind if I stay over, Snake?”

“Whatever, just plead Wolf to share a bed with you.”

The way to the house seemed longer than when they went there, which was caused by Solidus’ little friend stopping because he  _ felt too sick to walk  _ on every street they passed. Few blocks from the house, they decided to let Solidus deal with it himself and just continued their way, ignoring the sounds of underage puking.

“It fucking reeks in here.” Was the first thing the girl said, after entering the house and she was correct. So fucking correct.

“Yes.” Liquid answered simply, content of the problem, but not bothered enough to solve it. “Shower is up there. Don’t look in the bath, unless you want to meet Simon. Ladies first, but it’s not a rule, only an offer.”

Liquid talked a lot when he was tired.

Or drunk.

Or both.

Or if he had too much energy at the moment.

Liquid talked a lot and it showed.

“Let’s watch something, before they shower.” He offered and turned on the tv before anyone got a chance to protest. “Back to the Future, maybe?” He named the poor options. “Lord of the Flies?”

“Which one?”

“Older one.”

“We aren’t watching black and white film to fulfill your crush on Jack’s actor.”

“Excuse me, the pedo here is out right now, getting puked over by a baby. Stop falsely accusing me of my brother’s crimes.”

Liquid may talk shit when he was drunk and tired, but Mantis had to admit that his speeches improved from the usual  _ fucks  _ and  _ bitches _ he said while he was only tired.

“What else is there?”

“Escape from New York.”

“Let’s watch that.”

“Alright. Just don’t fall asleep on the table again.”

They no longer talked after the movie started, except for some _she’s-hot_ s _,_ _he’s-hot_ s and occasional complaining by the people who just returned from the bathroom and witnessed Simon.

“That thing is fucking disgusting.” Wolf said, as she came back with most of her clothes in her arms and wet hair. “I sleep in your mom’s room, right?”

“Yea.”

“‘kay. Come, Mantis.” It took him a tired moment to realize she wasn’t talking to him and that this is gonna be a problem in the near future.

“I sleep at your father’s?” He asked to clarify.

“I would claim that for Jack.” Solidus said, as he finally appeared at the door with the boy on his shoulder. “I think he might have alcohol poisoning.” He added more to himself, before claiming the shower too. Not that anyone would stop him, the kid smelled of puke and no one wanted to breath in his presence any longer.

When everyone finally got to the bed, it was silently decided they are not getting up to go to school in the morning.

Liquid was the last to take a shower and when he joined Mantis in his bed, the shower proved to be a freezing one. He surprised Mantis by not playing the no-homo game and hugging him as soon, as he laid beside him. That was probably the alcohol, that could be still smelled on him. Maybe it would be better if he didn’t hug him so tightly. It was not very comfortable.

“Goodnight.” He whispered.

“Fuck off, Liquid.” His brother answered. Mantis didn’t dare to speak up after that.

Their sleep didn’t take long. Mantis was soon woken by a light, that went from the open door straight into his eyes.

“David?” A voice whispered. He just curled into Liquids chest and ignored it.

“Jack poked my eye and it's bleeding. Can you drive me to the hospital?”

“Can’t you wait to the morning?” He could hear Solid also moving on his bed.

“I can’t see on it.” 

There was enough silence filling in that it was obvious Solid won't be driving anyone anywhere.

“Eli?”

Liquid pulled Mantis closer.

“Ask Wolf.”

There wasn't enough time to fall asleep again before Wolf peaked at the door herself.

“Guys? George’s eye look pretty gross. I think he might have a real problem.”

“Keys are in the car.”

“You are terrible brothers.”

She shut the door before Solid could finish his answer.

“Thanks.”


	5. Mean Girls and The Testaments are referenced

In the morning Liquid’s hold proved to be very strong. It might have not be as noticeable during the night, but right now Mantis felt like he was a piece of wood stuck in a very firm vise.

“Liquid.” His throat was dry and his voice  harsh.

Of course Liquid did nothing else but purred and managed to ged his hold of him even tighter. If he was a fan of breathing, he would have a problem now. Good he was not.

“If you aren’t going to let me go immediately you are gonna experience that weird fetish porn that traumatized you.”

“Which one?”

“Just let me the fuck go or I’ll piss on you”

Liquid laughed and finally let go of him. Mantis used his newfound freedom to immediately head to the bathroom. And maybe giving Liquid one good kick on his way off the bed.

He got there just on time to see Solid carrying the kid Solidus brought in his arms.

“Hey.” Solid greeted him.

“Hey.”

They both stayed in their place staring at each other.

“I found him lying on the floor in the bathroom.”

“Right, sounds legit.”

Mantis decided he will have to be the one to move first, if he ever wants to get to the bathroom and walked past Solid, who then got back to moving the kid.

“If it breaths it’s okay, right?” He heard Solid shout at him from the bedroom. Because some people don’t find it weird to speak to a pissing person. Not that he himself did. Maybe a little.

“Probably.” He might as well be in coma, but that’s tolerable, as long as he breaths.

He washed his hands, ( _ unlike some people _ ) and went to the kitchen, where he found very disappointed Solid staring in the empty fridge.

“Wolf didn’t return with the car yet, right?” He asked when he spotted Mantis.

“I don’t know. I saw neither her nor George, so probably not.”

“I’m gonna call her to get some food on the way.”

He left the room and Mantis curiously checked the fridge. There was a single banana in there. The self-conscious pile of mold disappeared. So it did grow legs and walked away at the end.

He could hear Solid talking in the other room, mostly because he was walking around the corridor like an animal in the zoo.

“You are not, but I will love you as one for it. The money is in the car. Solidus will show you. Thanks!”

He went back to the kitchen.

“They are still in the hospital.”

Hour later, after even Liquid woke up, Wolf and Solidus finally arrived, thankfully carrying groceries. Solidus’ eye was patched.

Liquid took the bags from him.

“Show us the eye.”

“No.”

“You don't want to see it.” Wolf assured them.

Solid didn't bother putting anything away and emptied the bags on the table.

“Spinach pizza? Really?”

“That's for calling me your mom. You gotta eat some vegetable.”

“I didn't  _ call you _ mom. Just assured you to  _ love you  _ like one.”

Spinach or not, they were hungry and the pizza soon ended in the oven.

The smell of it was so tempting it managed the unmanageable and summoned post-party teenagers from their beds.

“Morning.”

Their heads turned to the door in misbelieve. She had a room for herself and still woke up. In her age. Voluntarily. What a miracle.

“Morning, Mantis.”

She looked around for a free chair. There wasn’t any.

He was about to get up and find her some, but as soon as he pulled back his chair, she sat down on him. That not only solved the chair problem, but even proved that she didn’t consider last night just a random make out at a party.

He pulled her closer to his lap. She has been too close to falling before, that would be awkward.

“Aw. You two are cute.” Wolf said. How nice of her, wasn’t she supposed to guard the younger girl’s dignity and let her sit on herself instead? That’s what girls do to younger ones, right? Also the thought of it was what was considered hot between masculine high schoolers.

Solid got up to check on the pizza and she didn’t get up to claim his chair. He hoped for girlfriend stronger than that. Not that he could be picky.

Solid threw the pizza on the table, but not before he got a piece of it himself. He didn’t include the knife.

“Fight.”

“There were three pizzas, just make the next one.” Solidus said, as he pulled the plate with whole pizza to himself, seemingly not minding it was burning hot. As the one with fire involving trauma, he had to admit his desperation was impressive.

And the pizza miracle happened again.

“Hey Jack.” Solidus said as soon as he saw him peeking at the door. “Come here.”

The boy looked pretty confused. He looked even more confused when Solidus pulled him on his lap. Though his visible discomfort soon disappeared as Solidus handled him his own piece of pizza.

“Ew.. And you claimed you aren’t pedo just yesterday.”

“He’s my son, bitch. You are the one seeing pedophilia in this.”

“Sure, one moment you call him your child and the other he’s dancing on the table, making out with severed head.”

“Of all the things you could joke about, you call me out like this.”

“I live with you most of my life, you think I won’t know you would take literally any chance call someone your Salome.”

“Fuck off, it’s classy. And stop confusing my son.”

The kid indeed looked confused and maybe a slightly terrified. But unlike most people around the table, he did have pizza. That made up for it.

“How does it come he doesn’t know Bible, isn’t he from Africa?” She joined the conversation and caused Mantis more joy that a joke of that quality should. Especially when he loved to pretend he never found Mean Girls funny. While laughing with his head buried on the back of her shoulder, he realized that yea, if anyone she’s the one. He didn’t even know the kid was from Africa before. Not that if mattered in anything but Mean Girls jokes.

“Doesn’t that make you Herodes?”

“Nah, I always liked Herodias more.”

“That sounds like something Freud would cum in his pants for.”

“Mantis, you want to study psychology. What’s freudian analysis of this?”

Despite the girl on his lap blocking his view, he managed to move her enough to show Liquid his threatening expression.

“I’m gonna stab you.”

“And what does that make you?”

“Delilah, because I’m gonna stab your hair and you will cry.” Maybe the threat was a little too rough. After all, for someone who wanted to become a soldier, Liquid valued his hair way too much. That means, he valued his hair over his life.

The second pizza was done and everyone suddenly realized that if they don’t get a piece of this one, they may not get piece of the last one neither. The chaos could be compared to Battle Royale and it probably should be, because it included a massacre of high schoolers. It just happened not to be sponsored by the government. Only supported.

“Hey, if we go to school now, we can write the math test and we won’t have to stay late on Friday.” Wolf said, eating pizza on the ripped bodies of her enemies.

“That would imply I understand a shit of whatever that test is about.”

“You just use  _ one  _ formula, Liquid.”  _ It’s not that hard. _

“I’m not going anyway.”

“Do you have anything else to do?”

“Yes. I’ll stay home and read T. E. Lawrence.”

“Don’t make me break a fourth wall for a rape joke.”

“Liquid is a rape joke.”

“So is Lawrence.”

“Could you explain the math to me?”

“Sure.”

_

The next day few days nothing much unusual didn’t happen neither. Maybe except for some unfortunate events in class, that did not involve child weddings. But they as well could.

“I still can’t get over the fact that his father is still alive. When I first saw Ocelot I thought he must have lived during the World War, The Sorrow was probably present to the murder of Franz Ferdinand. Or even the crowning  of Franz Joseph.” Solid, as attention seeking as ever, was turned around in his desk, with no other intention, but to tell them his public tv tear joke. 

That caught Ocelot’s attention.

Before Mantis could properly react, Ocelot’s keys flew his direction. They were meant to hit whoever dared to disturb his class, however Solid’s reflexes were pretty good and he dodged them easily. Poor Mantis didn’t manage to do more, than hide his already damaged face and hope Ocelot misses.

He never missed.

Even if he doesn’t manage to hit the person he wanted, he always hits someone.

At the last moment, Liquid’s hand appeared in front of Mantis’ face and caught the hypothetical murder weapon.

“No talking in my class!” Ocelot reminded them. Not like he was actually teaching right now. Unless the random conspiracy theory he just read about was part of the curriculum.  “And give me back the keys.”

Liquid handled the keys to his brother, who just rolled his eyes on him and sent them forward to the front of the class.

Later, when they left the class for lunch break, Liquid looked overly satisfied with himself. As soon, as they got out the land of the school property, he let them know why.

“Wolf, remember that keychain of Ocelot you called cute?”

Wolf laughed. “Yea.” It wasn’t so surprising when Liquid took it out of his pocket and showed them with a pride of a dog that caught a ball.

“It hurt as hell to catch it, so I took something from it. Do you want it?” He asked.

“Yea.” Mantis knew the question wasn’t meant for him. He learned soon enough in his life, that if he wanted something, he will not gain it by leaving it for other.

“I do.” Wolf followed, as if Mantis just didn’t claim it. Liquid freezed for a moment, which was only typical to his species. Jocks, when exposed to a complex problem usually went numb, until they either managed to find a solution or forgot the problem. Wolf and Mantis waited patiently. 

Liquid suddenly woke and let the keychain fall on the ground, then when it still remained complete, stepped on it.

“Well, that’s one way to do it. Isn’t that what the Bible recommends.” Wolf said, as he bend to collect the pieces.

“No. Liquid is quite superior to Solomon, you see. He gave no shit about our opinion and straight up cut the baby.” Mantis said, in his best complex explanation tone.   
“You would be pro breaking it anyway.” Liquid answered from his place on the ground, which by the way, suited him very well.

“Someone wants to get a kebab?” Liquid said, getting up.

“Sure.” Wolf answered, not making it easy for Mantis.

“I can’t I’m broke. I will think of you and your pizza in the cafeteria.”

“It’s okay, I have to save money for the school trip anyway.” 

“Wait, it’s next week already?”

“Yea. Wait no. The next next week I mean.”

“Shit.”

He really didn’t feel like going back home to his father yet. Nor he felt like staying over at Liquid’s while he isn’t there. Even if he let him.

“Is someone not going?”

“You?”

“Funny. Someone else?”

“I don’t know. You can ask in the cafeteria.”

In the cafeteria, food was terrible and he didn’t get any hope on an asylum neither.

“You can stay over at my house. I can tell my mother, she would let you.” Octopus proposed. It was a nice offer, but his ego wouldn’t take that.

“Thanks, but no. I don’t want to bother.”

“What about the dorm? Someone might give you their pass.”

“It’s monitored.”

“I have to go now, but if any of you got suddenly sick and couldn’t go. I would appreciate it.”

He got up from the table, along with the disintegrating fillet, that even he didn’t manage to eat. And  _ he  _ was broke and hungry.

He still had some time left, but he decided that if he gets to Ocelot’s office a little earlier than it was agreed on, there won’t be problem. He didn’t expect him to have any life he could disturb and the sooner he gets back to Liquid’s house, the sooner they can watch Lawrence of Arabia together.

“Come in.”

Ocelot was comfortably seated in his chair, legs on the desk, feeding on maxi bag of gummy candy.

“So you ate in cafeteria today too?” Mantis joked.

“Yes, do you think I make enough to get food anywhere else.”

“Can I get some?”

Ocelot looked at him exactly how one would look at someone, who asked for their food. “Yes.” He didn’t lean closer or offer him the bag. Mantis had to walk around the table to take some. They were gummy snakes. He stayed where he was, leaning on the table.

“So did you study what I gave you?”

“Yes, but I don’t understand why is the history of psychology in the time, when it didn’t exist yet, so important.”

“It’s important because they might ask you about it in the entrance exams. So what did you learn.”

“That ancient philosophers didn’t have much work to do.”

“If you didn’t know that before why are you even here?”

“Okay, they studied soul and had many various theories about it. Then in middle age it was the same, except soul was immortal and only immortal, because priest said so.”

“And?”

“Then Freud happened and there has been a dick.”

“That’s one way to interpret it.”

“Interpret what? That literal dick over the text in the scripts? Honestly, Ocelot?”

“That could have been anyone.”

“Sure.”

“How’s your russian going? I expect you to get A for the test.”

“I too expect getting A, because unlike rest of the class, you aren’t the only source of russian for me.”

“You are so nice today. What’s happening, did you move back home?”

“No. But I might have to, since everyone is leaving for the trip.”

“That’s two weeks away.”

_ Not enough. _

“Exactly.”

He had an anxious feeling that Ocelot might offer to help him. Not that he didn’t trust him enough to possibly accept it. He was afraid he would have to either accept or go back to his father. Anything Ocelot ever offered him always felt like a thin ice. There was no logic in it. You can’t possibly mistreat a person who sees your own father every day, right? He wouldn’t dare.

“By the way, you don’t know where the cat key chain of mine ended, right?”

“No, sir.”


	6. The chapter that lifted the rating to E and lied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: triggering information labeled as gruesome nazi facts, one plot related holocaust joke, Katusha and one-sided sex scene. For that last one skip down, but not too much down.

The days just went on. Making him more and more anxious about returning home. The fear of facing is father was always conscious within him. He took any distraction he could from his thoughts.

“Hey, do you have a spare cig?”

“Nope, that’s the last one I have.”

“Mind sharing it?”

“Not if you come for it.” He said that jokingly, he was not expecting her to actually comply.

“Okay.”

Except she did. She entered the boy’s restroom like an absolute madman. Joker can go fuck himself with his Joker-Girlfriend. She was truly crazy.

“Wow, I didn’t expect you to really come.”

“Why?” She said in a tone so casual, that it made him feel like the dumb one here. “Do you really think I mind being here more than guys mind my presence?”

She had a point. He gave her the cigarette she earned.

“So how was your physics test?”

“Terrible, but I got the required minimum.”

“That’s actually great! Good job!”

She probably just said it to make him feel good about himself. The worst thing was that he actually liked it. How does she dare feed his embarrassingly human need of being praised.

“Thanks. What about your math?”

“I have 90%.”

“Right. You are the clever one. Good job.”

_ Did he do it right? _

“Actually, I copied it from Octopus.”

“Still a good job. Cheating on tests from The Sorrow is a bigger achievement than gaining A from math test will ever be.”

“Yea, I heard one time he choked a student for cheating during exam.”

“I heard it was Ocelot, actually. When he was young enough to be in school. Back then it was probably a normal thing to do.”

“Do you think it’s true?”

“I don’t know. I never dared to ask him about it.”

She didn’t answer, just looked forward the door. His gaze curiously followed.

Liquid stood in the doorway, watching them.

“I think he broke.” She said.

She was most likely right. Her comment got Liquid to do as much as his mouth and let out his mediocre thoughts.

“You aren’t a dude.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Okay.”

Liquid looked at the urinals, then back at Mantis, and then went to a stall. She was right. He was more disturbed by her than she was by him.

“What are you two doing here?”

“Smoking.”

“You do that all the time, why are you both here?”

“We have only one cig.”

“Okay.”

As any high schooler, Liquid knew the pain of lacking resources and he could understand their unfortunate situation. 

“Hey, do you have a marker on you?”

“Why?”

“I want to mark this moment here. So everyone knows.”

That was fair. Mantis just hoped he wasn’t dumb enough to use names. He searched his bag until he found one deep down in a mess of torn papers and crumbs.

“Alright, should I throw it to you?”

“Go on.”

“If you let it land in the toilet I will kill you.” Mantis said before throwing the pen.

“Got it!”

A sound of scribbling filled the room.

“What’s he writing?” She asked him.

“I don’t know, but judging by the time it takes I assume it’s an entire novel.”

“I ho-” She was about to say something in return, but Liquid was much faster to confirm.

“It is!”

She didn’t finish the sentence after and he didn’t ask her.

The scribbling stopped and he came out of the stall, heading straight to them.

“Won’t you wash your fucking hands?” She asked.

He stopped.

“You two truly suit each other, you know.”

They watched him wash his hands in a judging silence. Keeping their eyes on his every move.

“You look like two different cryptids that ended up in one public restroom by accident and now are just shaming people for their choices together.”

“Washing your hands is not a choice, not doing so is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.”

“No, it’s not.”

He went to them.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Can’t you be normal fucking teenagers and make out instead of hygiene-shaming me?”

“No, our cryptidity isn’t compatible. You will have to help-”  _ increase the bond by continuing being a nasty idiot. _

Liquid might have misinterpreted first half of that speech. He did help with the making out part tho.

He fucking did.

Just for the case of possible future comparative research. He did kiss differently than she did. He forced his way into his mouth without hesitation, pinning on him like in some porno. His weight pushed Mantis a step back, until he hit the window behind him. Liquid’s still wet hands hug around him, soaking his sweater. 

He heard the door open, but he couldn’t see them. He pulled back.

She spoke first. 

“Hello, Mr. Anderson.” She probably should pretend she was not there, but that weird made up confidence was enough until now, so maybe it will pass now too. “Shouldn’t you be at your own staff restroom?”

“Yes. I should. But unlike yours, mine is crowded, because it has only one stall.” He was obviously taken aback by the situation, but he played it cool. That was somehow admirable.  “Anyway, I have no idea what’s going on there and I only hope it’s all consensual and want to know no more. Now get out of here before I will be obligated to report you.”

That was to be expected. At least he didn’t want to bother with any more solutions.

“Okay.” She said and then remembered herself. “Sir.”

She smiled on Mantis before leaving. It was a warm mischievous smile. Not at all suiting his feels about the situation. He would follow her, but Liquid was still pinned on him.

“I think I will take the crowded opinion.” Sigint said, turned around and with all the grace of high school teacher, who just witnessed more than he ever wanted to, left.

“You got me wet, asshole.” Mantis cursed.

Liquid took a step back from him. Giving him space to move.

“That’s what she said.”

That punch was not planned, it was a basic reaction for that sentence. A pure reflex. It landed on Liquid’s chest. He wouldn’t dare to hit his face. But it was a hit as any else.

Liquid was still laughing at his stupid joke when he returned it. Of course, Liquid was stronger and quicker than he was, but his punches still landed. Maybe not where they were supposed to, but it counted. Liquid probably didn’t try to repel them too hard.

One of them was slower than the rest. Liquid caught his fist and twisted it, making his whole body turn around.

Mantis kicked behind, heading for his knees.

They landed on the hard ground. He managed to dodge Liquid once, but not the second time. He was pinned down, but his arms were free, so he tangled them around Liquid’s neck. Trying to lift himself on his leg to turn them around.

They were disturbed by the sound of the bell announcing start of the class.

“Are we going or..?” He lowered his press on Liquid’s neck, in case it was too hard for him to answer, but left his arms here.

“Nah, Miller will probably talk about his personal problems first half of the class, anyway.”

“Okay.”

He got to choking him again, while Liquid kept on trying get out of his hold and still have him pinned under his body.

Liquid pushed his hand under Mantis’, around his wrist. A sharp pain shot through his hand to his arm, it was so strong it jerked away from Liquid’s neck, despite Mantis’ will. It was enough for Liquid to get it away from himself and soon secure his other hand too.

“I won.” He said as he held both Mantis’ hands pinned down.

“Yea, but you are still an unsanitary asshole with a dead mouse in his bathtub.”

Liquid let him go.

“Stop offending Simon.”

They both got up.

He felt better than before, inside him was something joyful even, crawling up to his ever so depressed mind. The joy was not fully there, but it was around.

“Fuck.” Mantis moved his arm and felt it quite strongly in his blade. “My shoulder fucking hurts.”

“Let me see.” Liquid said and stood behind him. “Relax your arm.”

He laid his hand over his blade. “Scream where it’s worse.”

Mantis let him solve it with all his trust. Liquid suffered so much fight related damage he was probably an expert on it by now.

“Heeeere- Fuck.”

Liquid squeezed and a loud crack sounded through the room.

It helped.

“Fuck. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He smiled. “Let’s get back before Miller eats us.”

“Yea true, he still has teeth left after all, unlike most of the things.”

They went to the classroom, taking their time to check every single pinboard on the way. Especially the ones with warning about sexting and related crime. It had pictures. By the time they finally reached the classroom door any excuse they might have had was invalid.

“Where have you been?” Miller asked them in a tone that could be as well be used for announcing a capital punishment.

“Mantis punched me and we couldn’t get it solved quick enough, Sir.”

Kaz looked at them through his sunglasses. “At least you are polite enough to be honest and aren’t trying to feed me any fragile lies, I will let it pass.”

Good. Where’s the  _ but _ ?

“But you have to sing for me.”

Before Mantis could take a breath to say that he would prefer to be executed Liquid complied.

_ “Mama, just killed a man!  _ __  
_ Put a gun against his head! _ _  
_ __ Pulled my trigger, now he's dead!”

“No! Not that.” Miller stopped him.

“You learn russian right? Sing-”  _ Oh no. _ “Katusha.”

That was just cruel of him. It seemed like Miller has been spending too much time with Ocelot lately. Mantis was just glad that when he gets detention, Liquid will be there with him.

Or maybe.  _ Maybe.  _ He will get banned from attending the school trip and his problem will be solved-

_ “Rastsvetali iabloni i grushi,  _ __  
_ Poplyli tumany nad rekoj.  _ __  
_ Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha,  _ _  
_ __ Na vysokij bereg na krutoj.”

Or not.

Mantis’ suffering could be comparable to what the worst of the sinful souls feel, when they are chewed by Satan’s heads in the deepest circle of the hell, but it was probably much worse than that. And the terrible song just wasn’t ending. It was fucking endless. Mantis was prepared to give up every moment and come up with some pseudo excuse that the song is offending his culture or something.

“ _ Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha, _ _  
_ _ Na vysokij bereg na krutoj.” _

When it finally ended, he was dead inside.

“Now you Mantis, what will you sing-”

“Please Sir, I had to stand next to him the whole time. I think I’ve suffered enough.”

Kaz looked at him and to Mantis’ surprise found his argument valid.

“Okay, sit down.”

The class was long and Mantis didn’t understand most of it. But it didn’t matter to him. His lack of understanding economy was pardoned because he came from a communist country.

After the class Mantis was already waiting for him in the corridor in front of their class.

They went on the lunch chatting about unimportant things.

Mostly.

“Mantis.” Her voice changed in sign of an uncomfortable subject.

He looked at her. “Yes?”

“You seem pretty-” She paused to choose the right word. “Tensed lately. Is there something bothering you?”

“No.”

“Really?”

Fuck it. He could use someone to share his problems with. Especially the ones he didn’t want to bother Liquid with.

“I will have to go back to my father’s soon.”

She stopped walking and pulled his hand to stop him too. She didn’t let go of the hand after.

“That’s terrible. Do you really have to?”

“Yea. I don’t have nowhere else to stay. Everyone is leaving for a school trip.”

“Everyone?”

“Yea.”

It was obvious she was considering something. For a moment her gaze lowered from him to the ground.

“Stay with me then. At the dorm. Girls will be away too.”

“That’s-”  _ not what he expected? Wild? Deviant? _ It sure was deviant. She had to trust him a lot to propose that. Not that he of all people was any threat. 

Still, he didn’t feel like he deserved any of the trust she put in him. Staying over with her friends around would be understandable, but he did a little to earn that kind of faith to stay with her alone overnight. “Wouldn’t that just cause you trouble?”

“It could, but there are many girls bringing their boyfriends around and little of them was caught.”

He squeezed her hand.

“Why do you trust me?”

“What? Do you think I would be scared of you murdering me in the dorm full of people around thinass walls?”

“Yea, pretty much.” Murder wasn’t the first thing on his mind but whatever. Maybe she just could tell he wasn’t that kind of person. His friends did already. “Why?”

“Because- I know how you feel, okay? Sometimes I feel like the girl from Autumn Sonata and I was so fucking happy to move away from my parents.” Mantis didn’t get that reference, but he was sure Octopus could explain. What he understood now was that she, too, had issues in her family and developed kind of compassion for that kind of trauma. It was a nice example of altruism. And he didn’t say that just because he was studying for psychology exams.

“Thank you.”

At the lunch things started unpacking.

“Great, now when you owe me a favor, could you ask Octopus to do my ball makeup?”

“Sure. When do you need it?”

“Today.”

“That's- soon. Why didn't you ask before?”

“A friend just gave me a ticket, because her sister couldn't arrive and it's tonight.”

“That's fair.”

_ And she probably hoped for him to convince Octopus to do it for free too. Great. That will take a lot of determination.  _

_ _ _

They didn’t see each other until the evening of the next day. They agreed to meet in a teahouse, where they spend next few hours, chatting over one shared tea. The atmosphere didn’t change, until they reached the dormitory entrance.

“Cover your face.” She said, but gave him a little time to proceed. Her hands were already wrapped around his head. She lifted his scarf to cover his lips and part of his nose.

“You said they didn’t check, who enters.” He expected it to be a lie. But that didn’t mean he won’t be bitter about it.

“Not very closely.” She sounded happier than she should be about it.

“I saw some girls smuggling their boyfriends in in skirts.” She giggled. “Don’t worry, you already look like an art hoe, you will pass.”

He was about to tell her how rude she was, but she didn’t let him.

“Don’t you just have something to tie your coat with? You look too much like a Gestapo agent.” She wasn’t the first person to tell him so and she was right.

“I don’t.” He chose to disagree with her anyway.

“Never mind. Just come.”

Inside, she brought him straight to the checkout, he waited, more nervous than he should be, while she exchanged words with the tired lady there. Soon enough, they were through the big glass door that until now separated the realm of his knowledge and the unknown. It was similar feeling like sneaking into a girl’s restroom in the 3th grade and realizing that girls don’t have to piss in a row. Or being brought to the back room on a festival, where staff has their own free food. There was just something slightly exciting on the tiled corridors and endless stairs, that used to be forbidden.

“Here it is.” She said, when they reached the door that looked same as the other. “The showers are downstairs, I think it would be best if you took one in the morning, since someone might want to use it now. It will probably be cold, but better than scaring someone. I can go with you..”

She unlocked the door. The room smelled of perfumes, that bit his nose, but it was better than Liquid’s house for example or even his own home. The room itself was small. It barely fit in the necessary furniture. Almost like his own.

She threw her bag in the corner and fell on a bed under a window. It had The Aristocats sheet cover. He didn’t dare to comment on it. The last bed, he slept in didn’t have any covers.

She patted the bed, as if she was telling a dog to come closer. He took off his coat before he fell on the bed beside her. He did so despite all the other beds being free. Just because she wished so.

“I didn’t share a room this silent since Raven moved in.” She said, just before a scream sounded from the other room.

“Hard to believe room with you was ever silent.” He stared at the ceiling, just so he doesn’t have to look at her.

“It is now.”   
She laid her hand on the window and let her nails tap on the glass.

“Mind if I open it?”

“Not at all.”

She sat up to do so and didn’t lay back when she finished. Instead, she leaned on the window, looking out through the grids.

“I like sleeping with my window open. But girls hate it. It calms me somehow.”  _ When it’s cold. _

“I like to look out of it when I can’t sleep. There were more stars where I used to live, you know. Here I barely see few and most of them are satellites anyway.

He didn’t answer.

“So.. Where did your class go on the trip?”

“Could be Auschwitz, I don’t give a shit.”

“I would like to see Auschwitz someday, like a tourist I mean.”

“If you want to see a bunch of dead hair so much, you can come over and clean the drain in my shower.”

She fell back on the bed with an inappropriate laugh for inappropriate joke. She leaned over him, still smiling and kissed him. Happier than she should be. He opened his mouth and did no more than moved his lips, while her tongue traced his lips. To this day he still didn’t realize why people liked it. He knew dogs licked their supperiors to show submission, but as far as he knew, with humans it was different. The one who licked more showed their dominance. She probably expected him to do more than open his mouth.

She took his hands and moved them around her. She pulled back just to take off her shirt. She was small even next to him. He held her on the sides of her chest, his fingers stroking the hem of her bra. He felt ribs under his hands and only then he thought that maybe all those jokes about the ED gang might have something truthful in them. But why should he be concerned.

She kissed him again, her lips slipping from his, moving to the scar at the corner of his mouth. She laid her lips over it, tracking her way back to his mouth with her tongue.

Her hand moved to his crotch, squeezed only so lightly. She was probably disappointed not to find him hard for her. Soon she was unzipping his pants and when her hand slipped under his underwear he couldn’t help, but speak up.

“Don’t.”

She looked him in the eyes with an expression he couldn’t read. Her hands on his pants stilled.

“Okay.” She said. “Just take those off before you sleep.”

He nodded. Relieved. He didn’t want to know why he felt like that.

She pulled the pants off for him, as if she didn’t just tell him to do so. Then she got up from the bed and went to the closet. 

He looked away as she changed. Saw her only in the corner of his eye.

She laid back on the bed, her head on his chest. It wasn’t very comfortable, but he did not complain. The sooner he falls asleep the better. 

_

“Mantis.”

“Mantis!”

She shook him. Maybe a little too harshly.

“What?” He opened his eyes, she looked at him through tears.

“Talk to me.” She buried her face in his chest.

He was way too sleepy to deal with this kind of social interaction.

“What’s the matter?” He petted her back.

“Just talk, please.”

The few sleepy brain cells he didn’t destroy by premature alcoholism were getting a clue what was happening.

“Ugh, everything will be alright..”

“Mantis..”

“Alright.” He didn’t have any idea what to talk about. “Did I tell you about that one time Liquid caused me a panic attack in class and his biggest concern was that teachers can’t find out?”

That probably wasn’t the best thing to talk about, but he was talking, right?

“No? Continue.”

“We were in the age, when setting things on fire is fun. Or Liquid was. He was a late bloomer. I had that phase like ten years sooner.”

“When you tried to kill your father?”

“Pretty much. You know, I wasn’t over the old, almost burning to death thing at that time. Liquid decided it will be fun to spray our desk with deodorant and set it on fire. He even made a pretty heart of it. Except he didn’t say his intention. So suddenly, my desk was on fire, I got a panic attack and pretty much everyone around started panicking because of that.”

“And?”

“That’s it. He begged me not to tell anyone, when I wasn’t even able to do that. But it ended before the teacher came. Asshole, didn’t even notice how shaken I was the rest of the day. He just came in and complained that the class smelled bad. He thought we used some gross coconut spray there.”

“Coconut spray?” She smiled, it was most likely forced.

“Yea.”

“I’m sorry for waking you up.”

“It’s okay.” He moved his hands to her hair.

“I just.. I know it’s weird, but sometimes I remember something about Holodomor and this happens.”

_ Jesus Christ, that Holocaust joke triggered it, didn’t it? _

“Why Holodomor?”

“My mother’s family lived through that. She even had a picture of them during the time. She used to show me, when I refused to eat.”

“That’s harsh.” Maybe he should be glad he only had one parent and not an abusive mother too.

“Her grandfather, he had beaten his wife and daughters. He ate most of the food too. When their little brother died, they buried him- You know  _ Juniper Tree _ ? The Grimm fairy tale.”

_ Holy shit. _

“The one where they served the son to their father?”

“Pretty much. He ate most of him. They were soon hungry again. One night he had beaten them again, they were too weak to fight back. So when he slept, they slit his throat. Then they ate him too.”

“And your mother told you that?”

“She did. Very often. She had a photograph of them post the famine. There were only girls left.”

He felt like that wasn’t all of the story. “And?”

“Before the Holodomor, they had more than just one son.”

“ _ Oh.” _

“The name Mantis suits me, doesn’t it?”

“Yea, I should probably leave it to you.”

“So what’s your trauma?”

“Beside the fire?”

“Yea.”

“Is this a trauma sharing moment?”

“I shared mine with you.”

“Alright, I actually was in Osvetim- Auschwitz , we mostly call it Osvetim.” The stupid story was harder to tell that he thought it will be. “My father was held in a commie work camp and wanted to show me how much he suffered. Alas, they wouldn’t let him show me  _ their _ work camp, without keeping us here. So he took me, a six years old, to Osvetim. He showed me a pit where they locked up to twenty people at once as a punishment. I thought it was big enough, I was small. Then he went into it to demonstrate it. It wasn’t big enough. There were also rooms full of hair and boots, like in Pan’s Labyrinth..”

He continued talking, but with every sentence the point was getting further until there wasn’t any, only random facts he just remembered. “ Ugh.. Did you know that when nazis wanted to get information out of a barely legal dude about the location of Heydrich’s  assassins, they cut off his mother’s head and put it in their aquarium-”

“Mantis-” She stopped him just as he was about to tell a different story. This one was from the Winter War. (It wasn't his fault he couldn’t think of anything but the nazis at the moment. It was Octopus’ fault. He made him watch The Pianist with him as a condition for doing her makeup.) “Could you read me, maybe?” She pointed at a pile of books next to the bed. Some of them looked painfully familiar. _ Required literature. _

“The one on the top.”

He reached for it.

_ Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo _ . 

Fitting enough.

He opened it to the marked page and stared at the dark, blurry pages, trying to proceed the letters there into words. Then he somehow woke up and put the book on the window, so he could actually see what's written there.

His understanding of german was very basic, he could ask for the restroom location or read a children’s book, but that was it. Luckily for him it was enough to know how words are read. At any point she did correct him, so he either read it right, or she just didn't care about his pronunciation.

He knew the book, but never read it himself. It was about a homeless children living in the subway on the western side of Berlin. It was focused on a teenage girl, if he remembered that correctly. One of the many women who lived with his father (before running away like the rest of them) liked the book and happily retold him the whole plot. He didn’t recall much of her endless speech about it, except his father coming in, saying something about “ _ the showcase of the West” _ and leaving with a bottle of vodka.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed until she interrupted his reading, but the artificial light outside was already joined by a light blue sky.

She sat up on the bed and laid her hand across his on the book.

He stopped reading and looked at her.

“Let's get a shower, I don't think I could sleep anyway.”

Mantis was about to say he would sleep himself, if she let him, but he didn't get the chance to do so.

“Come.” She pulled him out of the bed.

She only stopped on their way out of the room to throw a towel on him and was soon pushing him out to the corridor. He didn’t remember to get his the spare clothes until he was already out. He just watched how his bag gets further and further from him, until she shut the door completely. The corridors they went through were cold and dark. They looked more like something from a horror film mental hospital than a dorm. Not that he was at much dorms before or that mental hospitals looked like the ones in horror films. They pretty much lacked all that dark Victorian aesthetics.

The basement showers on the other hand, looked worse than they did in a mental hospital. Starting with the fact that they were in a basement and ending with the silverfish layer near the obviously out of service shower.

“This is disgusting.”

“Yes.” She agreed. “And they are charging me for using it.”

She started taking off her nightshirt and he politely turned around.

“I don’t mind you watching.” She said.

He could hear a sound of sirens in his head and it was not from the outside.

“It’s okay.” He managed to say. Was there even a legitimate answer for that at all?

He didn’t mind watching her. Was mostly concerned about her watching him. Not that there were worse things on him than his face, but still. Maybe she will lose interest in him after.

He took off his shirt, looking desperately around for a place where he could put it.

“There’s a chair.”

So she was watching him.

He looked in her direction. She was not only in her panties now. Her clothes folded on a chair next to her.

He had to step closer to put his there too. She seemed less confident than she was a few moments ago. He didn’t blame her, just wished she backed off.

He passed her and went to the shower. She didn’t turn around. That was good.

He actually considered showering with his boxers on, before realizing how absurd that was and taking them off. He threw them on the chair.

He turned on the shower and immediately stepped back from the water. It was freezing. He waited. But it wasn’t getting better.

Just as he was about to give up his hopes for warm water and step into the cold shower, she appeared next to him.

Of course the cold and warm water would be marked reversely.

She moved it to cold and after a moment the water was fine enough to get under it.

Instead of letting him clean himself and take the other working shower, she pulled her arms around him. 

She had to pull him down to kiss him. She didn’t reach him even on her tiptoes. The water flowed on his head. He really didn’t plan to wash his head today, not that he didn’t need it.

She didn’t bother with his dick this time. Probably realizing it was hopeless. Instead she led his hand to her crotch.

He had no idea what to do.

But it seemed like she expected that and was prepared for it. She led his hand with hers and he let her. He copied the movement she did with her fingers, while trying not to think about it too much.

The showers weren’t divided from each other. He could see the silverfish layer on the other side. The bugs were moving over each other, making it seem like they are one big breathing alien layer. _ She couldn’t have chosen a more romantic place, really. _

The sounds she made sounded like she heard them in a porno and just copied them now. It was probably true. Even if they were true, he knew it wasn’t him but her own hand on his causing them.

He felt uninvolved, as if she was just using him. 

So he kissed her. It also helped that it shut her up. For once he got enough will to give some force into the kiss. It was for a first time he actually felt something during a kiss. He just couldn’t describe what it was.

He moved his mouth to her neck.

And to her shoulder.

She was so skinny.

It was hard for him to say how much time had passed, but it felt like ages before she pulled off him and he could finally take a shower.

They went back through the corridor, that now was less dark and less quite.

“By the way, Mantis. Me and the girls found a job offer. Modeling. Want to join us?”

“I don’t think they take ones like me.”

“It’s for BDSM shop. They do.”

Her answer caused his emotions to wake up, mix and scream. So he laughed.

“How much they pay?”

“Enough.”

“You are just scared to go yourselves, aren’t you?” It actually amused him, that she was asking him of all people.

“Yes. But they looked for male models too.”

“Okay. I’ll come.”

He needed money anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just went to an avantgarde theatre and part of the play was based on Autumn Sonata. It included Eva singing parts of the Queen songs instead of Helena's dialogue. It was good.  
> This chapter would probably better if it was written by Screaming Mantis' point of view. Maybe one day I will. I would also like to apologize for making her cannibalism related backstory about the Holodomor. But what else would I do with all the information I have about it?


	7. Chapter with cakes and other things

He might have skipped the school while everyone else was away. He doubted anyone expected him to come. It was more likely they would just send him home, than that they would set up a class only for him. Neither did they expect anyone to come the day after their trip. But of course, they still had to give them a speech about it.

“I know you all are here, so I’m speaking to the wrong people, but tell your classmates that everyone is very disappointed with them.” If Mantis was to be honest, Sigint looked more envious, than disappointed. He didn’t blame him, he wouldn’t like to wake up every day for that job neither.

The number of students that attended today was remarkable. There was Mantis, who didn’t go on the trip, Octopus, Emmerich, Naomi and Wolf, who was sleeping on her desk and no one dared to wake her up, including Sigint.

“Mr. Anderson, we are not learning today, are we” Octopus said. “It would be rude towards the rest of the class.”

“They deserve it, they should have come.”

“They do, but we won’t do it anyway, right?” It was rude and disrespectful, but someone had to say it.

To everyone’s relief, Sigint finally agreed. “Okay, we won’t. But you will help me mark the tests.”

“That’s fair.”

“Yea.”

It was an honour to help a teacher with their job. In concept. In reality everyone looked forward it because they liked the feeling of crossing _the_ _bad answer_ and holding the power over other’s grades _._ Or at least Mantis and his friends enjoyed it that way.

“Sit together.”

They gathered around the front desk. Sigint sat with them, before handing them the papers. They let Wolf sleep peacefully at her desk, out of respect for her bothering to come.

“Answer for the first question is A, B, B, A, C. The rest is opened, but I’m sure you can answer that, we revised it in September.”

Mantis looked down at the test he was given.

“I can’t even read it.”

Naomi curiously looked at the test in front of him and then gave him the most disappointed, but also angry expression Mantis had ever experienced. “You can’t read your own girlfriend’s handwriting?”

“It’s hers?”

“Yes, Mantis. There's her name on the test. That usually means the test is hers.”

He didn’t dare to answer her. He only looked at the test and the name on it. He knew her name _wasn’t_ Mantis _._ He just never bothered to ask for the real one. He marked everything as correct.

“sir?” For once Mantis was glad Emmerich spoke up. Marking the tests was getting boring.

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t Mr. Miller leave with us yesterday?”

Sigint stilled, looking at Emmerich with suspicion, then his face brightened up. “Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you. But-” He lowered his voice, as if anyone around really cared. “Miller is getting bionics!”

“That’s cool!”

“I know right!”

Mantis used the opportunity of Sigint’s distraction to turn around with a wicked plan to lay on the opposite desk. Sadly, there was Naomi taking a nap there.

__

“Mantis we have to move classes.” Wolf woke him.

“Already?” He rubbed his eyes.

“Yes. We were here for three hours. Sigint had us instead Miller too.”

“‘kay” He got up from the desk. Everything was hurting.

“Haven’t you slept last night?”

He would laugh at her if he wasn’t so sleepy. “No.”

It wasn’t until now that he got a good look at Wolf. “What the fuck is that on your head?”

“Pigtails. I woke up with them and I will keep them until I find and murder the culprit. My best bet is it was either Octopus or Naomi. Possibly both. If I don't get a confession out of them, I will kill everyone, just to be sure.”

He took his bag and went with Wolf, he couldn’t quite remember what day was it, let alone which class did they have now.

It turned out they had biology. He didn’t mind the subject, but he did mind that they had to walk up all the stairs _and_ go around the building to get to the classroom.

In the biology classroom, they were met with empty desks and a very inspiring message on the blackboard, that said: _We are in the IT classroom._ So they walked all the way down again and into the basement. There was a very unfortunate surprise waiting for Mantis there. But he was yet to learn it was unfortunate.

“Liquid, what are you doing here?” He said, as he sat next to his friend.

“Father came home, when we were away.”

_Fuck._

“Fuck. I was awake the whole night, hoping to get to sleep over again, I can't go back home!”

“I’m sorry. I’m looking for a place to stay myself now.”

Mantis sighted. “Did you fight?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that was quick.”

He guessed it was time to get over his father’s bitching. If he could ever get over it.

“Weren’t you supposed to sleep over at your gf’s?”

“Yea. I did for the first night.”

“Oh, okay.”

Clarke came in. She looked as tired as Mantis felt. She was on the trip with them and returned home in the same late hour as they did. But unlike her students, she had to come to work today. She sat down and stared at them for a silent moment.

“Oh, sorry. Sit down.” She had to be _very_ tired. “You are going to make a presentation about the animal you like the most and then send it to me.”

It was clearly a makeshift task, but Mantis didn’t say anything. Especially because he had a presentation about the titan beetle already saved from a previous year. It was not his favourite animal, but it wasn’t like she cared. He will turn it in and then sleep-

“Mrs. Clarke, is this really a suitable task for our grade?” Everyone turned to Naomi, using their best deadly glares.

“You can do your favourite virus, Naomi.” Clarke sighted. As unimpressed, as everyone was relieved.

The class was silent enough for a person to take a nap. Which was pretty much caused by most of its occupants actually taking a nap. Of course, except Naomi, who just moved from Mantis’ ‘Not caring about list' to the ‘Absolutely fucking hate’ one.

“Madame, I think I'm in the need of the first aid.”

Clarke's eyes were filled with hate and sleep deprivation. “Why, Naomi?”

“Wolf stabbed me.”

With a groan Clarke got up and opened a cabinet. “I've got plasters.”

“Thank you, madam.”

Naomi had to walk to her to get them. There was a blood stain on her thigh. A pretty big one. Wolf had truly stabbed her. Mantis had never admired her more than in that moment.

__

Going back to his father wasn’t as bad as he thought it will be. He didn’t say a single word, when Mantis reappeared in his apartment. It was that time of a year, when season work slowly stops and his father had to give an actual effort into finding a job, so he was gone most of the time too. The only thing his father said to him since he returned, was to remind him that he will have to pay the rent at the end of the month. As if Mantis wasn’t gone most of it. He didn’t protest. It was better than fighting him.

Despite the unusual calmness in their household, the fridge was empty and Mantis still broke. It made him feel tensed. Hungry and tensed. But it wasn’t all that bad. His lunch in the school cafeteria was prepaid, so he didn’t have to worry about starving to death. He was grateful to his past-self for using his summer-job money for that and not anything else. Now he could look forward to finally eat something every day, after suffering through the day in school.

Except that they dared to serve a fucking porridge of all things today. At least his girl was nice enough to give him her serving too, along with an excuse about not liking sweet meals. He didn’t like them neither, but who was he to be picky.

He hoped to catch Ocelot with something again, so he might make him share. He went to his office sooner than arranged, but that was getting usual now.

“I’m here, sir.”

“Good. Sit down.”

Ocelot started with revising the latest subject, but it soon turned out to be worthless.

“Mantis, did you study?”

“No.” Mantis answered honestly. “I didn’t have time, neither energy to do so, sir.”

“Well, if you won't study what I give you, I don’t know why are you wasting my time.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I will catch up. I just-” He didn’t plan to finish the sentence.

Ocelot closed the scripts. “You just? What’s distracting you so much, that you can’t study a simple script?”

“I’m sorry, sir-”

Ocelot sighed. Mantis watched him stand up and walk to the cabinet in shame and silence. He didn’t know what to expect from him, but was prepared for the worst. Ocelot took two glasses and returned to the table, from which he, to Mantis’ shock (but not a surprise) took out a clear bottle.

He poured a glass for himself and one with the lesser amount of the liquor, that he handled to Mantis.

“I still have a gym class left, sir.” Mantis said in a low voice.

Ocelot lifted his eyebrows. “And is that the first time you come drunk to a class?”

“No, because it doesn’t count, if it’s a health shot, sir.” Mantis took his glass. The truth was he missed it. It was a while since he was invited anywhere and he didn’t dare to take any from his father.

“So, what’s going on?” Ocelot asked, holding his own drink.

“Nothing that should bother me anymore, really.” Mantis confessed. “My father is an asshole, but that's normal. He always was.”

“Anything else?”

“Liquid doesn’t listen to me, since his own father got home. He won’t let me talk to him, unless it’s him coming to me bitching about his father.” He probably shouldn’t be ungrateful to his friend, at least not aloud, but whatever.

“Is that all? I’m sure you have other friends to turn to, don’t you?”

“I do, I guess.” _Did he? He couldn’t just stop talking to Liquid without getting ignored by the whole FoxHound._

“What about the little girlfriend of yours? How is that going?”

That wasn’t a topic he wished to discuss. “It is going-” _Stressful?_ He couldn’t say that. “It’s working somehow. She’s pretty.”

“Well, I just wanted to let you know to be careful around her. I know you can’t recognize it yet, but she seems like the type to use her men to get whatever she wants. She wouldn’t be the first girl here to feel underappreciated, try to get her beloved drunk and before you know it, she’ll be telling you she’s expecting and that you have to marry her now.”

 _Was that what she was doing?_ He downed the liquor as if it was a shot. His mind was on fire. Ocelot refilled his glass.

__

There’s no need to say that before the start of the afternoon lesson his choices proved to be very unfortunate.

“Professor Volgin?” Mantis he entered the gym, looking for his teacher. Volgin, who was just occupied mocking Fox’s heels-up-squat, turned to him.

“What?”

“Could I sit down for a while, I don’t feel so good.” Mantis pleaded

Volgin looked at him with a doubting gaze. “You will get better after you move a bit.” His tone made it clear that there will be no passing over.

Mantis looked around desperately, trying to find Liquid, as if he could help him. He was shocked to discover, that the only blond hair in the room, beside Volgin’s, belonged to Akiba. Mantis had planned to punch him for occupying the restroom for so long he had to change in front of everyone in the locker room. However, he didn’t feel like punching anyone anytime soon.

He didn’t hear the order to run, but everyone was suddenly moving. He had no choice but to join them, hoping that _maybe,_ not thinking about how he felt like will make it stop.

It did not.

The nausea was getting only worse.

He didn’t need to run to feel better, he needed to sit down. Maybe he could sneak out of the gym, when Volgin wasn’t looking.

“Mantis.” He heard his name from behind. He didn't plan to stop, but a hand on his arm made him.

He turned around. He had to run slower than he thought, if Emmerich of all people managed to catch him.

“Are you okay? You look terrible.”

He was about to say he is, but what he did instead was grabbing Emmerich so he doesn't have to stand on his own. The air suddenly felt so heavy. “I am.”

He didn’t need to look at Emmerich’s face to know how he felt about his answer.

“Let’s get you some air.” Emmerich pushed him forward the door. Luckily, not commenting on Mantis awkwardly leaning on him.

“But Volgin-” Mantis protested, but still went with him. At least now it wasn’t his fault. Precisely, if Volgin enjoyed to mock someone more than him, it was Emmerich.

“You look like you will puke on his boots if he comes too close. Trust me, he won’t risk that.” Emmerich’s opinion never seemed more valid.

They didn’t reach the outside. On their way there, conveniently close to the restroom, Mantis already knew he would not make it. He basically tore himself from Emmerich and emerged to the nearest toilet.

The puke tasted like acid.

He didn’t notice Emmerich coming, until he felt him pulling his hair up and comfortingly pat his shoulder, which made Mantis puke even more. He didn’t even eat _that much_ in recent days. He had to be getting rid of his guts at the moment. Not that he needed them in the first place.

“Is he alright?” In any other moment, the voice would make him tremble, but he was already trembling, so it didn’t matter. He also had a much different things to worry about.

“No, sir.” Emmerich answered, as if that wasn’t obvious. No, really, he was fine. Those were his insides he was puking out, but that’s super normal.

“Get him to the staffroom, when he’s done.”

Mantis didn’t want to go anywhere, he wanted to lay down and die and he didn’t care if it was in the toilet. Emmerich let him rest for a bit, then his beta male self kicked in, ordering him to listen to the big guy.

“Let’s move.”

“I don’t want to.” Mantis sounded miserable, but it suited to how he felt, so he wasn’t even ashamed of that.

“Shower your head, cold water will help you.” Emmerich offered. “And it will clean the puke off your hair.”

Mantis did his best to get up. Cold water sounded good.

“Eww. And you touched it?”

“You’re welcome.” He hadn’t heard such a savage tone from Emmerich before.

His head was still hurting, but the cold water truly felt good around it.

“Is it all gone?” He asked Emmerich, as he wrung out his hair.

“Yea. Let’s go.” It was obvious to Mantis, that Emmerich wanted to avoid exercising more, than help him, but he didn’t blame him for that one.

The gym staffroom smelled a bit like Snake’s house. It was also similarly clean, except all the stuff was up and not on the floor. Which was fair, because someone had to clean them. He was glad to find one clean chair to sit on there.

He might have underestimated the time he had spent laying over the toilet, because he could hear his classmates from the corridor. That or Volgin gave them an earlier break. Soon Volgin showed up himself.

“I will have to call your dad to pick you up. Do you have his number?”

“No.” Mantis really didn’t want to see his father. Nor did his father want to see him. “Don’t bother, he will just pretend he doesn’t understand English.”

“I have to try. He speaks Russian?”

“Yea, but so does he speak English.”

“You’re Czech right?”

“Yes.”

“Who has the number?”

“Miller should.”

The moment Volgin left Emmerich reappeared next to Mantis. He almost forgot about him. He might have just missed him because he felt so sick, he didn’t give a shit, but hiding from Volgin was impressive. He had to admit.

“That’s some S rank stealth.” He said.

“Thanks, it’s driven by fear and necessity.”

“By the way, I wanted to ask you, why the fuck was the equation you gave me to copy today forming a heart?”

“My sister counted it for me and I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Okay..” She was like ten last time Mantis checked, but it was easier to believe, that his baby sister counted it, than that Emmerich counts his math to look like a heart.

“Why? Did you copy it in the shape?”

“No, but Liquid almost did.”

Emmerich laughed. “So did Dave.”

Volgin came back, he seemed slightly more annoyed than before.

“Your father isn’t coming.”

“I told you.” He said. Emmerich, who didn’t hide this time, gently elbowed him. “sir.” Mantis added.

“He also called me a cunt. What an asshole.”

“If you want to punch him for that, I don’t mind, sir.”

“You should punch him for me, you’re his son.” Mantis didn’t see the logic in that, but he didn’t question Volgin’s family background. “I will drive you after the lesson ends.”

“You don’t have to bother, sir. I’m fine now.”

“I’m not happy about that, neither, but it’s the law. And you don’t look fine at all. Don’t you dare to puke over anything here. Emmerich you are coming back.”

__

He had enough time to recover from his moment of nausea, before the class ended. He tried to insure Volgin he’s fine, but he wasn't having any of it. That didn’t mean that Mantis wasn’t trying whole way to the parking lot.

“I'm fine, sir. Truly. Just go home.”

“I can’t, Ivan is already there.” Mantis rolled his eyes, making an expression of disgust, but still acknowledged the joke as a good one. "I can't let you go by yourself. Get in the car."

Mantis complied. What was he to do? Run away? The running part was already a problem. The situation could be worse. Volgin really seemed like his only concern was the legal matter. He would just drop him off at Ljubljana and be done with it. So Mantis thought, until Volgin started talking.

"So you’re feeling better now?"

"Yes, sir."

"You were with Ocelot before the class, right?"

"Yea." Did he know he drank? Not that it mattered, because what would he do about it. If he was under Ocelot's supervision, he couldn't drink, right? “Why do you care?”

"I don’t have to, if you want to play so difficult. You ate something today?"

"Lunch."

“Only?”

“Yes.”

"You have anything at home?"

"No."

He didn’t want to have this conversation. It only made him seem like a person, who couldn't obtain a food for himself at his age. The truth was he didn't start looking for a job yet and just starved, but that was his choice, not a failure. Plus, he had planned to get some money from the shooting Mantis had promised him.

"Okay, let's get you something."

“As if you could afford feeding random people with the income teachers get.”

“If you talk like this to your father, it’s not very surprising he beats you.”

“Fuck you. As if you knew something about that.”

“I don’t. Now, you want to get a meal or not?”

Mantis wasn’t usually the one to let his empty stomach betray him. But it was getting a free shit from Volgin, or getting home and confronting his father instead. So it was an annoying asshole with food or just an annoying asshole. Maybe if he waited a bit, his father would be already passed out, when he came home.

“Fine.” He said, as disgusted as he was.

Despite his super honest protests, Volgin turned the car.

_

The place Volgin took him to was nothing like he would expect of him. He imagined it would be some gloomy russian pub, with windows so filthy it would be so dark during the day you couldn’t see inside from the street and during nights it’d be loud and insufferable.

This place was nothing like that. It was a cafe, nicely lighted and stylized into friendly pastel theme, which implied that the place was fancy, but not too expensive. It was the kind of cafe, that you take your barely aged girlfriend to, so she doesn’t feel too much special, nor too cheap. Although one look at the menu made Mantis reconsider his view of it. It wasn’t as cheap as he would think. Not that it mattered to him. After all, why not give the man a nice lesson about forcing his students come out with him.

The menu was full of expensive sweets that he didn’t really want at the moment. He kind of wished for the dark russian pub instead. He would use a real food. When the waitress with a fake smile came to take their orders, he hopelessly looked at the few sandwiches they had and ordered the one that sounded the most like a meal.

“Chicken panini and a cinnamon latte, please.” He could throw in an expensive drink if nothing else. Not that the panini was cheap in the first place.

Unsurprisingly Volgin took a black coffee. They always took a black coffee.

The waitress left and Mantis was about to take a random script out of his bag and pretend he was studying, but before he could do so, Volgin spoke.

“So I heard you are quite fond of Kafka.” That really surprised Mantis. He would have never thought Volgin was capable of more than three sentence conversation about body building.

“I do.” He said, while his mind screamed ‘ _Tell him all your opinions while you can! No one else would listen anymore!‘_

“It’s been some time since I read his stories. He got quite a reputation in making people feel depressed.” _He reads._ That was very unexpected. Over any logic Mantis still thought of reading as a counterpart of sport in a young man’s life. You do either one or the other. Never both. As the media taught, there are jocks and there are bookworms. He never got rid of that opinion, despite his friends successfully doing both and him sometimes failing at both.

“Yea, it’s depressive, but that's the whole point. The absurdity of career life and failing to adjust to a distressing situation.” Maybe he idealized it too much and he was definitely about to overtalk, but all of his friends were done with listening to him talking about Kafka. “The way he portrays the repetitiveness of everyday life as a torment, is what makes his books so great. That and the pressure of family and society on a man still matters even now, decades later after he wrote it. I wanted to visit Prague because of him, but then my father was generous enough to explain me, that today’s city may be a hell of forced labour for its citizens, but it's no longer Kafka’s Prague. It was gone before I was born.” How easy was it to keep a straight face, while talking about his father in public, while home he did all to avoid even to think of him. Kafka helped with that. Probably.

“That had to feel like getting an apple stuck in your back, huh?” Volgin probably thought he was funny, so Mantis laughed. At least he really read the book.

“So you are fond of books from your homeland?”

“Not much. Beside Kafka I never liked any. I read some funny-wanna-be books, but never liked the humour, nor did I like the poetry.”

“I have to admit I read some of the czech proletariat poetry and didn’t like it either.” Volgin said. “But I liked that one funny novel about The Great War. It was nice to have something humorous after all that death serious soviets.”

“I liked The Master and Margarita.” Mantis said upon the mention of soviet literature.

“Yes, that isn’t exactly soviet, but students like it.”

“I didn’t know you read that much.” Mantis dropped the _sir,_ just to push the limit a little more. Volgin didn’t seem to mind.

“I used to teach literature.”

“Did you?” That was an unexpected twist. He couldn’t imagine someone as loud as Volgin teaching literature out of everything.

“Yes. I have accreditation for literature, math and technology.”

“Why do you teach gym, then?”

“Because no one else would do that.”

“Except Nastasha.”

“Yes, except Nastasha. But she doesn’t want you.” That was a lie. She taught the girls’ gym group and enjoyed every time she could teach both of the groups together, when Volgin was away. But to be honest, he wouldn’t want her to have them neither. As much he hated male gym teachers, he hated female ones even more. There was nothing misogynistic about that. It was based on pure experience and written in him by sweat and blood.

Their conversation was disturbed by the waitress, who brought them their order. The panini looked better than he thought it would. It had actual meat in it. Not a ham. A literal piece of meat. In a sandwich. He couldn't think of a better word to describe it than bourgeois. Which was more shameful to his vocabulary than the panini itself. Bourgeois kind of sounded like curse word and the panini didn’t deserve to be that disrespected in a such way.

It also tasted great.

So great, he had to stop thinking, so he could fully enjoy the taste of it.

“You can get a dessert if you want.” Volgin proposed, after he finished eating and was sad that there was no more of that great panini.

It felt a bit like a dream. It wasn’t every day Mantis got the luxury of getting a dessert, that wasn’t a spoon ate jam. (That was mostly his own fault, he was too lazy to cook and he voluntarily bought jam in order to eat it with a spoon instead of lunch.) He looked at the menu. There were so many of the cakes. It was almost impossible to pick. His first choice was a red velvet, because it sounded lit, then he noticed they had a strawberry shortcake. Apart from swallowing his laugh over the name, he really wanted to know how it tasted like. The cake not the other interpretation of the term.

He gave his order to the waitress, who no longer bothered with false smiling. She looked pretty tired. He noted that she was probably at the end of her shift. Poor woman.

“So you are graduating from Russian?”

“Yes.”

“I assume you are the only one, since you have Ocelot from it.”

“That’s correct.”

“His teaching is a disgrace. There’s plenty of teachers who know Russian and they still let him teach it.”

“I didn’t know you can legally admit that.”

“I'm not legally obligated to work overtime too, but as you see.” He said that harshly, but as far as Mantis could say it was faked. Not that he could ever be sure with the man. “And how are you doing? You seem pretty off, lately.”

“I am, but what do you care.”

“I don’t. I just assume you would like to talk about it yourself.”

He just repeated him what he told Ocelot. Not mentioning his little lecture about girls, that still laid in his head. “My friend is ignoring me because his father came home.”

“Liquid, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that won’t take long, trust me. The bitch never stayed home long.” He smiled a smile of a man who is just about to tell a tale from his mandatory army training. “And even that was enough for Tanya to leave him.”

Mantis was about to question how does he know Liquid’s mother (or he assumed he was speaking of her, he never saw another woman there), but then he remembered the town was small enough to have one high school in it. So it probably made sense Volgin would know her.

He got his cake and had to admit, that he was a kind of disappointed with it. It wasn’t as fancy as he hoped for. He picked up a strawberry from the top of the cake. It was hardly fresh, its squashy consistency suggested it was frozen before it was put on the cake. But he shouldn’t be surprised, it had been long past the strawberry season.

He ate it first anyway. It still was a fruit and fruit was tasty. Despite Liquid trying to convince him otherwise.

He noticed Volgin watched him, but paid to attention to it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter might take 9 years, so consider this end of the part one.
> 
> Happy points for anyone who gets the "I can’t (go home), Ivan is already there.” joke.


	8. How I regret putting in this plotline

“You said only you four and me are coming!” He felt a weird mixture of relief, fear and betrayal. 

“Yeah. We pretty much agreed on that! What the hell Wolf?”

Her question was very tricky, because not only there was a Wolf among them, there were two of them. And both were about to take her unfriendly questioning personally.

“Wolf asked me to come with you.”

“Sorry, Mantis, but your boyfriend doesn’t make me feel any more safe than going to alone do. He would be the first to sell us to a fetishist human trafficker.”

“Excuse me, bitch.” Mantis expressed his discomfort. He was about to defend himself, but his girlfriend’s scream covered everything he was about to say and more.

“How dare you speak about him like that?!” It proved that female mantises are indeed the dominant ones of their kind.. or at least the louder ones.

“I’m sorry but it’s true! Just look at him!” She might have had a good argument, but her voice was already cracking, disturbed by her sobs.

“No, it isn’t! Say sorry!”

“Alright! I’m sorry, Mantis!” She lost way too fast. She could have fought  _and_ cry, she should have learned how to by now, since she has been like that for as long as Mantis could remember and he did not believe it was coming away anytime soon. “But I’m still more comfortable with Wolf here!”

“Don’t worry, Mantis. It’s as shameful for me as it is for you.” Wolf said. “Mostly because I might be seen around you all.”

He still found her presence unnecessary, although deep down he was actually glad he was not the only one responsive there. He could hardly bear that.

No need to say their way to the club was awkward. The club itself, however proved to be much different from Mantis’ expectations. Beside it being in a basement, which was exactly how he imagined it.

It was surprisingly nicely lighted area with brick walls, filled by somehow organized clutter. Despite the two words forming an oxymoron,  _organized clutter_  was truly the best way to describe the amount of various objects and constructions, that were cleverly pushed to the walls, but still took away most space in the rooms. They were organized to fit into each other so precisely, that Mantis could identify the disorder which whoever cleaned them, most likely had. He also noticed that most of the rooms lacked doors, which made them seem more spacious than they really were. He later learned that it was not the club itself, he was brought to, but spaces used for the backstage activity.

They were welcomed by a dorky Latino dude and a more-naked-than-clothed woman, that reminded Mantis of someone he didn’t quite remember.

“Great! You are the models, right?”

“Yea.”

“Well, you will have to wait a moment for the photographer to arrive and then another moment for Quiet here to take her photoshoot.”

Quiet waved at them and smiled.

“Are you Quiet the ultimate sniper?!” Wolf said with more enthusiasm in her voice than Mantis ever heard from her before.

“I get it that you volunteer for a helping us with her photoshoot.” The Latino said.

“Sure, I do.” He didn’t even explain, what  _ help  _ meant and she was already in. That was some dedication.

Suddenly something in Mantis’ head decided, it was a time for a spontaneous childhood memory.

“Wait. Didn’t you date Snake’s uncle?” He tried hard to remember his name, but he only knew him referred as Uncle Snake or.. “Didn’t you date a guy called Venom Snake?”

She nodded.

“Mantis you know her?!” Wolf was still overwhelmed by, what he understood was her idol.

“Yeah. She was with Liquid’s uncle when I slept over years ago. She made really good sandwiches.” They were terrible actually, that’s why he was still remembering them.

Quiet pointed at her eyes, him and made a gesture that could only mean “This small.”

He was so focused on the fact that there are now two extra people knowing he went there, that he failed to notice the distress of the girls behind him.

“We were actually talking with a girl named Amanda” Raven said sheepishly. “She said it will be her here.” 

“Oh, yea. She is will come a bit later, her car is broken and she hasn’t taken a bus in years, so she missed the right one.” He looked at the anxious faces of the girls. “I’m her brother, Ricardo, she mentioned, I will be here didn’t she?”

“She did.” Raven said with suspicion, while Octopus burst into laughter. “She said her  _ baby brother _ will be here.”

“Sure she did.” Ricardo rolled his eyes.

But to be honest the girl’s concern was understandable. If all the knowledge humanity has gained in last four thousand years was disregarded and only the man’s size was considered. He did not look like someone’s baby brother.

“Anyway, please show me your IDs. Not that I wouldn’t trust you, but you wouldn’t believe how many kids try to break in, regularly.”

“Are the models so porny you can’t show them on teens?” Mantis, who only now realized he could and should have looked their shop up on the computer, asked.

“Not all, but some of the web content is and parents love suing.” He lowered his voice. “If they are still alive.”

“Well, you wouldn’t have to worry about that with me.” Mantis said. “Most of us actually.” He added.

He took out his ID to prove his legality and Ricardo’s face lit.

“Almost as if-”

“If you are gonna make a Czech Hunter joke, I’m gonna stab you.” He threatened with no humour in his tone and no joke in his intentions.

Ricardo went silent.

He was about to make a Czech Hunter joke.

“We will have to wait for Amanda.” He said after he confirmed everyone involved was past the required age. (Except for Wolf, who was clinging to the Quiet woman. He didn’t dare to ask her for obvious reasons.) “I’ll be taking promo pictures of Quiet now. The wifi password is on the pinboard.” 

The four younger girls had immediately ran to the said pinboard and took out their phones. 

“Mind if I join?” Wolf asked.

Quiet waved her forward in a gesture of agreement.

“Can I come too, I have no phone.”  Mantis asked, because what else do.

“Sure, it’s not like we are going to some super secret sexy kinky hideout.” Ricardo said and pointed at one of the rooms. “There aren’t even doors there.”

“Does the whole lack of doors have any reason?” Mantis asked, as they went to the room.

“No, they just weren’t there, when the club moved here and they would be an unnecessary expense.”

“Okay.” Mantis said, unsure what else could he talk about.

The photoshoot itself was also boring for him. Quiet made various poses, that Wolf watched with adoration. And Ricardo obviously couldn’t manage to do two as complicated things at once, as to talk and take pictures.

He looked around the room. It was less messy than the rest of the building, but only because everything was pushed to the back, so it wouldn’t get into the view of the camera.

“Can I turn on a radio?” He pointed on a vintage looking machine, that actually wasn’t as vintage, since it would be completely normal to see in Eastern Europe, but here it was just a disgrace. Plus, he was young. Everything made before 80’s was vintage for him.

“You can try, but it’s broken and plays few lines over and over again. We sometimes use it for performances, since it’s creepy as fuck.” Ricardo stopped taking pictures to answer him. Quiet used the opportunity to grab a bottle of water.

Mantis decided to give it a try and after long and difficult attempt to find the turn on button, he switched it on.

_ “..on a Sunday afternoon. The day after the crime, the father went to the trunk of his car, retrieved the rifle, and shot his wife as she was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch. When his ten-year-old son came to investigate the commotion, the father shot him, too.” _

“That’s creepy.” Screaming Mantis peeked in the doorway.

“Yes.” Ricardo answered. “That’s why we keep it and use it for the show.”

Mantis rather paid attention to the radio than their repetitive conversation. Definitely not because he would be some kind of pervert fascinated by brutality. No. He just wasn’t interested in what his girlfriend had to say.

“ _..The brutal killing took place while the family was gathered at home on a Sunday afternoon. The day after.. _ ”

“It’s repeating.”

“Yeah. Told you it is.”

“Is there a way to switch the channel?” He found the particular issue of the radio interesting. Stucking on repeating a broadcast was something he would dare to label as impossible. Not that he was any good with tech.

“Yeah. Are you familiar with Soviet technology?” Ricardo walked to the radio. Mantis laughed.

“Punch it until it works?”

“Exactly.” He kicked the radio.

__ “..have all the young men gone?  
__ Gone to soldiers, every one!  
_ When will they ever learn,  
_ __ when will they ever lea- The mother, who was shot in the stomach, was pregnant at the time. Police arriving on-scene”

“It has rather morbid taste.” Mantis said.

“It has. Try it.”

Mantis kicked the radio himself.

_ “Řekni kde ty hroby jsou  _ __  
_ co se s nimi mohlo stát  _ __  
_ řekni kde ty hroby jsou  _ _  
_ __ kde mohou být- In each case, the perpetrators were fathers. State police say this string of domestic homicides appears unrelated”

Mantis took a long step from the radio and then another just in case. Just staring at it while his head worked harder than during a math test at the end of the semester.

“You understood that or-? You certainly look like you understood that. Enlighten me.”

“It was the same fucking song, but in my mother tongue. That shit is cursed. I mean no one fucking plays czech songs around here.”

Screaming Mantis kicked the radio herself.

“ __ Wake me up inside  
__ Wake me up inside  
__ Call my name and save me from the dark  
__ Bid my blood to run  
_ Before I come undone  
_ _ Save me from the nothing I've become-  _ _ she was cleaning up the kitchen after.. _ __ ”

“I swear I’m not listening to this.” She said a bit too fast.

More girls came and started kicking the radio. Wolf was crying about her song, but it could as well be at random crying spawn, completely unrelated to the song.

“So do you want to join her on the promo?” Ricardo asked Wolf.

Her face lit up.

“Yes.”

Mantis wondered why he was even bothered being ashamed for going here. Wolf just agreed to be on posters for free with no shame to see. But she was a hot girl, it was probably easier for her to do that. She was born with no dignity.

\--

“I might regret asking, but two are those guys over the urinals?”

Ricardo laughed.

“From the door; Stalin, Fidel Castro and Tito. All around their 20’s.”

“ _ No _ .”

“Yes.”

He suddenly had the need to come back and have a better look.

“Where?!” Octopus asked.

“You heard me.”

He hasn’t seen a bunch of girls so eager to get into a boy’s restroom since the elementary school.

“It’s nothing, just check what girl’s have.” Ricardo recommended.

Mantis got very curious, because what could possibly beat pictures of dictators over urinals. He went to the women’s restroom and was very disappointed to find nothing but politically incorrect stickers on the walls.

He was about to blame Ricardo for making fun of him, but then it occurred to him to check the stalls.

After opening the nearest one he was met with a face of Frida Kahlo on the stall door.

Every single stall had a picture of Frida Kahlo on its door.

He felt as if he left his home universe the moment he stepped in the club and he just didn’t notice he was in another until now. He never understood art, but he knew that if he was to tell about this experience to Octopus he would be either very angry or very amused.

He returned to Ricardo making a call in apparent panic and despair.

Also in Spanish, which he personally did not speak nor understand.

“What’s going on?”

“His sister can’t make it. He’s calling his girlfriend to come and by the sound of it, she’s the dominant one in their relationship.” Wolf politely explained him. “Anyway, Quiet asked me out. So good luck with not getting abducted and stuff.”

“Thanks.” Mantis said sarcastically. “What are you getting, McDonalds?”

Wolf gave him a dead serious look. “Pumpkin spiced latte.”

She left and the barely dressed woman, who was still barely dressed with her. In the meantime Ricardo finished his call.

“She will be here in a minute, will you help me get the models?” He asked Mantis.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Yes. You can help or watch me carrying absurd amount of boxes because I don’t want to go twice.” Wow, it has been a while since a grown person with a job and stuff gave him an opinion. He was tempted to refuse.

But Ricardo seemed cool and he had no more things to do anyway. The thought of staying alone with his girlfriend and her friends didn’t seem so sunny neither. “I’ll help you.”

“Thanks, dude.”

They went to a dark storeroom, that happened to be less dark after Ricardo switched on the light.

First thing Mantis saw beside many cardboard boxes was a black hole in the corner. A pretty lively black hole.

“That’s many fucking spiders.” He said.

“Yes.” Ricardo said, pointing at boxes that were less dust covered than the rest. “Take these.” He himself started picking them up. “I was tasked to destroy them, but they had babies and before I could get rid of them, I became too attached.”

They went back.

“Attached to spiders?”

“Yes, I like them. They are like cryptids, but more common and I love cryptids.”

Mantis smirked. “I don’t give a shit about cryptids, but I’m kinda one too, at least the neighbor kids say so.”

“The Ghost of Ljubljana, right?” Ricardo smiled. He had a smile of a prick. “I wanted to ask, but it seemed a bit rude.”

“I thought that was just a joke kids name to scare another.”

“I keep track of all local cryptids.”

“I’m not-so-very-sad to inform you, that The Ghost of Ljubljana is just me smoking at the mall rooftop.”

“ _ Or  _ you’re a cryptid and don’t know it yet.”

“ _ Or  _ I don’t want you to know I’m real.” Mantis copied Ricardo’s tone, it made him feel clever.

When they arrived back to what Mantis considered the main room, since it had a chair, a coffee table and wifi password, the substitute photographer was already there. She was no what he expected.

“I think he’s a creep, she looks twelve.” Raven said in whispery tone, that was not meant to be a whisper.

“Hey! She’s fifteen years older than me! She’s the creep!” Ricardo said in a way that suggested that he gets that one a lot.

“Hey, Chico.” She said unamused. “Get the clothes wherever you want the pictures taken, please.” She was not in a good mood. “Also, he speaks the truth.”

Raven was overdoing it. She did not look twelve, but she looked quite young. Would pretty much pass for barely legal, unlike him, who was barely legal, but still regularly checked in public transport.

“I can take your pictures if you want.” Ricardo offered to Mantis. “It’s not my job, but you are cool.”

“Okay.” He looked at the woman, who had an energy of military dorm resident advisor. “Thanks.” He was not giving his thanks to everyone but the less people saw him in that, the better.

They moved the boxes to another of the semi-clean rooms, this one had blackened walls. Then they left the girls and went to the room where they previously took pictures of Quiet.

“One box should have bondage gear and the second latex.” Ricardo said while handing him a knife. Mantis was very close to misinterpreting what the knife was for. Murder now seemed like a good way to get out.

“Uuuuuuuugh.” He said. Hoping Ricardo will understand.

“You don’t have to model it all, but you will be deeply appreciated if you do.” He insured him. “You want beer?” Ricardo took a camera out of its case. Either that was a new camera or he didn’t notice it had a cute sticker before.

“Sure.” Mantis said. Ricardo bended and took a can of beer from God knows where out of the clutter. Maybe the mess was a camo technique.

“Is that your camera?” He asked, not really caring about the answer. After that one time Octopus came in school in pink shirt with a pony, he lost all ability to get taken aback from unconventional masculinity.

Ricardo laughed. “No. I borrowed it from a friend, after mine broke.” He lowered his voice. “Actually, Paz broke it.” Mantis somehow understood that  _ Paz  _ was the girlfriend of his. “That’s why the bird sticker. The friend likes birds.”

Mantis finally got enough bravery to look in the first box. Most of the clothes were in more than one size, which helped his anxiety about too many incriminating photos a bit. It implied there won’t be as much of them needed.

He took out a packet with only belts in it. “How is  _ that  _ worn?” He asked.

“Over clothes. You can put it over what you already wear. We can start with that.”

Mantis nodded.

It soon turned out that he had no idea how to put it on and Ricardo had to help him. To his surprise it turned out not to be an awkward nohomo situation, nor an excuse to touch him, it was more of a brotherly help and not even the kind Cain, Remus or the Russians would give you. It was fun. The beer helped too.

“This one ties over your hips, this one around the waist on the back. I will do that one, wait.”

“And those short ones?”

“Around your thighs.”

The final look Mantis couldn’t judge because the room lacked any mirrors.

“It feels awkward, but could get used to it. How do I look?”

“Wait, I will take a pic and show you. Go wild this one is not going anywhere.”

The posing felt awkward, even when it was not for real yet. Ricardo happily showed him the picture, he didn’t like it at all.

“Can I have some weird BDSM shit to cover my face with?”

Ricardo looked around.

“Would a gas mask do?”

He gratefully accepted it.

“Just don’t lick it, I’m not sure who wore it before.”

With his face covered he felt better. Much better. Even the posing turned out to be less awkward when he didn’t have to check his expression and that one angle where his scars are the least visible. A few beers down, he even lost his doubt about the latex box.

“This one if kinky af.” He said taking out a very terrible piece.

“Yes. It’s a rip off of the one Lindemann has in his new video.”

“That explains a lot- He has a new video?”

“Yes. Mathematik.” Ricardo started touching all over his pockets. “Wait, I will show you.”

“Before I get in the skirt and it gets too awkward to ask. Don’t you have another job here? I would use one.”

“Well, we only have new models once a month, but if you come at the start of the next month, I could let you sell tickets for the show. I will talk to the boss about it and let you know, just give me your number.”

“I have no phone.”

“Ugh, just come then.”

Ricardo found his own phone and showed him the music video. Mantis looked at the terrible outfit again. If Lindemann could wear it, he might as well too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter before using Where Has All the Flowers Gone for the other fic and was too lazy to think of a different song or rewrite that part. Plus I wanted to include the [czech version of the song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_lZGRPYko0).


	9. 'How I regret making long titles at this point' The Chapter

Humans were predators. That’s how they survived. However, these days it didn’t give them enough excuse to stalk their prey or have a prey in general. But as Jung said, some things are just in our genes. Mantis didn’t like his genes. Nor his father’s nor the default humanity genes that Jung spoke of. But right now they called for his prey stalking instincts to sneak behind his girlfriend and pinch her waist.

She squeaked.

“Hey!” She hit him, but it was worth the amusement.

“Nice to see you, too.” He smiled, satisfied with himself. “So how did the shooting go, you hoes left me there alone and without saying a thing.”

“It went fine. We got free beer and Paz was lovely.”

Mantis didn’t even bother thinking of how unfitting was the word  _lovely_ for the woman, as the strange similarity in their experience made him wonder about the slight possibility he has been lowcore manipulated.

“Yeeah. I got a beer too. Do they give them to all of their models?”

“Yes. At least the new ones, they do it so you don’t back off after seeing the clothes.”

“How do you know?” Now he felt betrayed and manipulated.

“I asked a girl, who modeled for them.. Don’t look at me like this, you got money and a beer!”

“You could have told me.”

“If I did, you wouldn’t go. I didn’t even share that with the girls.” She patted his cheek. “C’mon, if something my silence only got things better! Or was the shooting  _that_ bad?”

“No, it was fine.”

She kissed his lips, just a quick peck that implied she might be in a hurry. “See? Everything it fine.”

She grabbed her bag. “I have to go, I have test to learn on! See you later!”

He checked the time. She had whole five minutes to get to her class and learn for the test. Not that his learning schedule would be any different, but she could have been the responsible one. Speaking of the classes, he might as well be on time for once.

Coming to the class, he was welcomed by empty desks and discussion circle in the back of the class. He threw his bag under his desk and went to check what was so important, that it involved everyone. He definitely did not look up for gossips there. That was not his thing. He only wanted to know if it was really important.

“How old did you say she is?”

“ _That_ does not matter.”

“Wolf you did ask her, didn’t you?”

“Ehhhhhhh. No. Because that does not matter. But she’s around 30, if you must know.”

“Not that I’m not supporting you, but does she at least have money?”

“I guess. I don’t care. Young girls make me feel like a pedo and I gave up on men by now.”

“Good choice. Why?”

“Half of them want me to be their housewife and have already picked up a name for their son and the other half wants to show me their energy drink can collection. I find both terrible.”

“Jokes on you, Wolf. For this comment I’m not showing you my can collection now.”

Everyone looked at Fox.

“Frank, how old are you?!”

“I just find them neat, that’s all.”

“He’s lying, he has rum bottles, not cans.. Mostly.”

“That was a good question actually, how old are you again? I know you had to stop studying for a while, but you pretty much stand out. Is that a gray hair?”

“Oh, fuck off.”

Mantis poked Raven, who stood right next to him. “What did I miss?”

“Wolf has a new hot gf, but she’s old, Frank is also old, a discussion about Snake's baby brother’s eye, that is not getting better and Meryl’s disaster date story about Solid dating to 7th grade and roasting of Johnny.”

He was starting to get afraid the BDSM gear pictures leaked already and he would be on the list, but that only proved to be a dumb anxiety. Good.

He almost didn’t notice Miller come in. But he did notice him, unlike the majority of the class and went to his desk, leaving behind most of his classmates.

“Hey!” Miller shouted, after he faked cough for the third time with no response.  “This is not a henhouse, get in your seats!”

The discussion stopped.

“A henhouse?”

Miller laughed a laugh of a satisfied man. “That’s how co- Mr. Sorrow calls it.”

“I think he was about to say _Comrade Sorrow._ ” Octopus whispered, as he sat down behind Mantis. “They call him that, when he’s not there.”

“Hm.” Mantis didn’t really care about how teacher’s called each other behind their backs.

After everyone got in their place, Miller started explaining something very important about inflation. Mantis didn’t understand a word, except that _‘Money_ _go bad. Prices go higher.”_ Miller was walking around the class, as he talked, to make sure everyone pays attention. It was almost impossible for Mantis not to notice the was he was side eyeing Octopus’ desk. It was very suspicious.

“Umm. You need something, Sir?” Octopus asked, when it because obvious Miller won’t stop.

“No, nothing.” He insured. “Maybe only, if you could lend me your guitar after the class? You know, I used to play and when I lost my hand, I didn’t think I might do it again, so I put mine away.”

“Sure, Sir. Just take it.” Octopus reached for the guitar and started removing the case. “Go on, play.”

“No, I have a work to do, you know.”

“That isn’t as important as your happiness, Sir. What we didn’t understand until now, we won’t get anyway.” He teased.

“Okay.” Miller took his guitar, looking more grateful than he sounded. “But I haven’t played in years and I still haven’t quite figured out my new arm, so it won’t be the best.”

“Just go on, you will remember soon.” Octopus said.

Miller sat on an empty desk in front of the class, holding the guitar as if it was sacred. He played a few notes, that didn’t sound like any particular song. Then he looked at Octopus, who nodded with a smile.

He tried again.

“It’s harder than I thought. I forgot everything by now.”

“Just play what sounds right, Sir. I’m sure you will get to something.” Octopus said in support.

“Yes, Sir.” Solid said. “You have it in you. Just play.”

“Alright.”

He played. It didn’t sound right at first, but then it got a note and started to sound familiar.

Miller must have noticed too. “I have no idea what I’m playing.” He said.

“Play that again.” Liquid encouraged him.

He did.

“Oh, I know.” Liquid said. “Play more.”

“ _There’s a house in New Orleans.”_ Liquid said in the way that was a lot like recitation but very close to singing. “ _They call the Rising Sun._ ”

“Okay, you got the song, now stop.” Solid interrupted him.

“Hey, it wasn’t that bad!” Emmerich said. “You guys went to a choir, right?”

“Yes, until our mother left and we were no longer forced to. George goes there tho. He felt robbed of it.”

Miller was still playing the guitar, not minding their conversation. It sure sounded like a song now, but it no longer was The House of Rising Sun. He seemed pretty lost in the song. At least he shut up about inflation.

..

He met with Mantis again in the important period between lunch and breakfast, which was just in time for a snack. If he had any. She came in his class, said nothing and pulled him out to the corridor.

“Ugh, it reeks in there.” She looked around and lowered her voice. “And why are all the girls in your class so fat?” She was not very good at hiding her opinion. Her version of lowered voice was what a normal person would consider normal level. It showed in the looks surrounding girls gave her.

“That’s biology, darling.” Naomi said.. to her ear.. from behind. Mantis jumped. She had a luck for jumpscares. They both had. It had probably something to do with having thin waist and 40kg, counting all their clothes and a bed. (60kg for him. He had to correct himself in his head. He wouldn’t allow his mind to make him sound lamer than he already was.) “Enjoy your youth, because it will leave sooner than you think.”

He never noticed girls around were particularly fat. Not that he was very observant of them. But looking around now, they were kinda chubbier, especially standing next to his girlfriend. But then, none of them had visible ED unlike her.

“Let her be, Naomi. She did not put that fat ass on you.” Wolf came to her rescue. Mantis felt awkward, uninvolved and lucky that he was uninvolved.

“It’s just all the stress and lack of time to exercise. You will see, when you reach the graduation year.” Mei Ling added.

“Wanna go for a smoke?” Mantis asked him. Obviously unhappy with where the conversation was heading.

“Sure.” He said, already knowing ‘ _for a smoke’_ didn’t mean returning in time for the next lesson. He was alright with that.

\--

It turned out that while he was gone, the twins managed to get angry at each other, again. It was very expected, yet it still amazed him that they managed to do this for all these years, without finally getting over each other’s existence. Or at least killing each other in order to gain themselves the peace they didn’t deserve. It was a neverending story.

Today, however their behaviour wasn’t as clear as usual. They didn’t go to the very opposite of the cafeteria in order to eat their lunch. Instead, they sat not only at one table, but next to each other even. He went to sit with them and so did Meryl, who watched them as closely as he did, while poking her overcooked potato, just as he did.

“Anyone noticed we’re having gym class today, yet?” Solid started the conversation, as if he hadn’t just finished growing at his brother. “I mean that we’re  _all_ having it today, not only you, Meryl.”

“I noticed.” Meryl said in disgust, that was only partially caused by her potato. “They could have just let you go home. It wouldn’t hurt anyone. I don’t want Volgin in one room, I wear a pajama pants in.”

Liquid laughed. “You go do gym in  _pajama pants_?”

“They are comfy.” She answered simply. Mantis felt as if a whole new world opened in front of him, as she said it. She was a genius. “Now I wish I had pyjamas.” He said.

“If you really want them, I can lend you some.” Liquid proposed. “I don’t wear them.”

“I will first look at them and then decide.” Mantis said seriously. Liquid’s fashion taste was far from compatible with his own.

“I think I might skip the class today.” She said. “You guys are fine, but you know.. Volgin.”

“I know.” Mantis agreed. Trying not to think about his little free food accident.

“The class doesn’t start until 2PM, right Meryl?” Solid asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good, that gives me an hour to finish something very important.”

“Your box of cigs isn’t very important, David.” Liquid said in a tone that did in no way cover the weight of the fratricide he just committed.

“Liquid.” Solid said in the very same unbothered tone. “Why is there a potato in your juice?”

Before Liquid could manage to finish saying “What?” Solid lifted his own plate and pushed a side dish in Liquid’s glass.

It was a childish, third grade level humour, that in no way was funny. Which didn’t Mantis stop from laughing, because there was a fucking potato in Liquid’s glass and as if that wasn’t enough, a piece of it tore and now floated at the top. Even Meryl was holding a hand across her mouth, so she won’t laugh too visibly, (which didn’t work.) He noticed David was side-eyeing her reaction. Bullying his brother’s food for a girl. What an idiot.

\--

“Where’s the Campbell’s niece?” Nastasha asked. “Did she skip again?”

“No, Miss.” Mei Ling answered. “She’s in the back-”

“With Johnny on his knees begging. You should go look, Miss. It’s hilarious.” Naomi added and received a very unimpressed look from Mei. “She will come in a bit, I’m sure.”

Nastasha laughed confidently, holding up her cig that definitely wasn’t allowed in the gym. “I’m almost jealous. The first time a man went on his knees before me and begged, I felt so powerful that only the leader of NKVD could compare.” She took a drag of her cig.

“You are an evil woman.” Volgin said to her in Russian. (Which made it a two word sentence.) He did so, so the students won’t understand. But Mantis understood and so did anyone, who paid attention for at least two Russian classes.

“We won’t be waiting for them.” She said. Probably to Volgin, but it seemed more like she was talking to herself. “Do you have any specific plan for the class?”

“No.” Volgin shrugged.

“Okay. It’s my pleasure to announce you all we are going to play a team building game!” She said, now more loudly, so even the groups in the back could hear her. They heard her, but chose to ignore her anyway. “Meryl will lead the stretching!”

Meryl, who just came into the gym with Johnny following exactly two meters behind her, howled. “Why me?”

“Because you came late.” Meryl’s relationship with the gym teacher didn’t seem very happy. Mantis should feel at least a bit of sympathy for her and pity her. They shared a similar burden. But he didn’t. Actually, he was happy Volgin haven’t made him do it. He hid behind his classmates, so he doesn’t have to follow the exercise.

Hidden in the back, he saw Wolf, who was eagerly discussing something with Naomi. They were completely undisturbed by the exercise they should do at the moment. There was a big change they even didn’t notice it. Wolf looked around, spotting him.

“Mantis.” She waved at him to come closer. Without any context, she grabbed his hand.

“You mean something like this?”

Naomi examined his hand. He felt weird and uncomfortable.

“Yes.” She squeezed his finger. “Damn, now I get what does that little chick has on keeping him, when he ca-”

Wolf elbowed her.

“No! Shut up.”

He was quite confused and really hoped she wasn’t gonna say, what he thought she was gonna say. She should definitely not possess that knowledge. No one should. “What-?”

“Nothing.” Wolf said. “Naomi is just a bitch.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“Fuckability of various types of fingers.”

“What-”

“Congrats. You lead for Naomi.”

Mantis hid his hands in his pockets. Not because the conversation would make him uncomfortable, just because he felt like having his hands in his pockets at the moment. That made sense. Luckily for him, they didn’t notice, as they got back to their conversation.

“Octopus has nice fingers.”

“Yes, he does. At least something on him isn’t completely fucked up. Doesn’t he play a piano? He should.”

“I only know about the guitar and ukulele. But I think I saw Volgin play a piano at some point. I’m pretty sure those fingers oversize some dicks.”

“Yeah, speaking of teachers. Ocelot’s hands lead for me.”

“Yeah, I know! Shame they are attached to Ocelot of all people!”

“Oh my god. Have you checked Miller’s new arm? I wonder how that feels.”

He turned around to save himself from their conversation by running away and hiding elsewhere and maybe dying, but as soon as he looked back, he saw Liquid behind him. His self-saving soon turned into a  _damsel in distress_ situation. He embraced it and laid his head on Liquid’s shoulder.

“Help.” He said. “They are hurting me with words.”

“What are you talking about?” Liquid laughed, while comfortingly patting his back.

“Rating hands by how fuckable they are.” Wolf said. “You are a better average.”

“How rude of you.” He answered. “Weren’t you dating a girl just this morning?”

“A woman.” She corrected him. “Yes. I still do date her this afternoon.”

“A woman, okay. I guess talking is allowed in lesbian relationships. Never been in one before.”

“You’re such an idiot, Liquid.”

“Hey, kids!” Nastasha suddenly yelled. “Yes. You two homosexuals, Wolf and Naomi. You are supposed to run.”

They looked around and noticed that really, everyone else was either running or at least walking in circles. But that wasn’t Mantis’ concern. His concern was that she dared to do something as absurd as to call a man with a girlfriend a homosexual. What a rude woman.

It didn’t help that Liquid grabbed his hand to make him run. Even when he let it go soon after.

It didn’t help that Volgin smacked his ass, as they ran by. “Hurry up!” He hoped that he would act normal at least when another teacher was by, but no. Nastasha only laughed.

“God, I haven’t seen so many closeted gays in one class since..”

He didn’t have the chance to hear the end of the sentence, but it hit him where he shouldn't have been hit. His insecurity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was short but the next chapter will have Liquid in drag, I promise.


End file.
